Light The Fire
by Element-Crystal
Summary: Everyone has secrets. Some we can tell, and some that can get us fired. And when the Spy learns his teammate's secret, he can't leave the pyromaniac alone. What can come of this? Nothing good.
1. Prologue

"The sky's lookin' real nice today," an Australian man said. He tipped back his hat to get a better look at the perfectly inflated clouds slinking through the blue sky. The man scratched his head for a minute before pulling the hat back down and smiling to another man beside him. "Beautiful day for killin' all those wankas."

"Sure is, partner," a shorter man said, his voice betraying his Texan heritage. He beat a large wrench in his hand, as though he were ready for a beating.

The Australian turned to the Southern man and asked, "You hear 'bout the new kid?"

"Can't say I have."

"We got'a new Scout," he said. "Fresh outta trainin', too."

The man started chuckling, "Looks like he's in fer one helluva day."

"If he survives, that is."

The two both started laughing to themselves.

A voice crackled over the P.A. system. "_Mission begins in 30 seconds._"

"Best be gettin' ready. Good luck, mate," the Australian said and lifted a sniper rifle into his arms. Then he turned and walked out to his sniper's nest. The Texan smiled and pulled out a set of blueprints with the words "Sentry Gun" in the bottom corner.

* * *

"I don't get it! What's this mission everyone's talkin' about?" a Boston kid said. He threw out his hands to his sides, his bandaged palms facing upwards to display his confusion.

"You see this here briefcase?" a man shouted at him, a heavy soldier's helmet covering his eyes. "We gotta protect it and keep it out of the enemy's hands! Thing is, we _also_ want the enemy's briefcase! You understand now_,_ maggot?"

"Yeah, yeah! I get it. But who's the sorry loser who has to get their briefcase?" the kid asked.

"That would be you!"

"What? I haven't even been here one day!"

"That's how things work around here, private!"

"Aw man! I can't believe it!" The kid took off his baseball cap and was about to throw it down until the soldier shouted at him.

"You want to get payed, don't ya?"

The kid sighed. "Yeah..."

"Then you better get out there and start killin' the enemy!"

"Oh yeah. I'll bash in more than a few heads out there...!" A new enthusiasm was in the Boston kid's voice as he replaced his hat and pickled up a metal bat off the desk. As he started to leave the intelligence room, he turned back to the soldier and shouted, "At least I'll actually be doing something useful!" He laughed and ran out of the room at a speed the soldier could never keep up with.

* * *

"Oh great!" A Frenchman wearing a ski-mask complained. A black man wearing a beanie and an eye-patch had his arm slung over the other's shoulders and was smiling.

"Are ya ready ta blow up soom BLU's ta'day?" the man said with a thick, Scottish accent. He laughed loudly and took a swig of scrumpy.

"God, your breath stinks! Do you really have to drink so early in ze morning?" The Frenchman turned his head away from the Scottsman.

"Ta'day's a good day, lad! And me scrumpy only makes it bettah!" He took another swig and released the man.

The Frenchman fixed his tie and tugged the sleeves of his pinstriped suit, straightening them out. "Don't touch me again, you reek of cheap beer!"

"Like yer fancy French wine tastes any bettah!"

"Zhat is only because you lost your sense of taste drinking zhat cheap beer."

"Losing mah eye made mah sense oof taste twice as good! You ain't got noothin' on meh!"

"Of course not..." the other man said in annoyance. He finally turned and left the locker room, lighting up a cigarette to block out of the smell of the Scotsman's brew.

* * *

"You ready, tiny medic?" a massive, Russian man holding an equally massive minigun said.

"Ja. Mein übercharge is almost full, too!" A German in a white doctor's coat replied.

The bald Russian pulled his minigun up and hugged the barrel. "Sasha always loves mowing down those leetul babies."

The doctor shook his head, smiling, and continued using his medigun on the Russian. "I sure hope ze BLU team can actually defend zemselves zis time."

"Maybe they go on offensive this time. Cowards!" The large man bellowed in laughter. The Germa couldn't help but join in.

They laughed for a moment before the announcer crackled over the P.A. system again. "_Mission begins in 10 seconds._"

"Hear that, medic?" the Russian asked.

"You ready, mein giant friend?"

"Yes! I love this job!"

"_Mission begins in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1!_"

The Russian man began spinning his minigun and smiling as he stepped outside the RED base, followed closely by the German.


	2. Chapter 1

The sound of birds singing could faintly be heard in this desert sanctuary. The river running between the twin forts lapped soothingly against the concrete walls of the sewers below. A cool breeze occasionally blew through to relieve the world of the burning sun high above. It was a perfect day.

Suddenly, the air exploded with the sounds of bullets firing out of their barrels and bombs detonating. The sound of the Heavy's minigun roared in the background as he annihalated every BLU outside the base. Sanctuary is probably not the best word, actually. This was much more like a warzone in the middle of nowhere, between two factions that nobody else knew about.

A group of BLUs who'd slipped past the Heavy ran beneath the Pyro, hiding in the grate-floored room. It was a Soldier, Heavy, and Medic; the Pyro dropped down behind them. They turned the corner and paused before heading into the courtyard.

"You ready, comrades?" the Soldier asked loudly.

"I am alvays ready!" Heavy replied.

"Zey stand no chance!" the Medic shouted.

"HELLOOOOOOO!" Pyro yelled, surprising the group. Just as they turned to see their enemy, the Pyro doused them all with fire. They screamed and tried to shoot him, but Pyro kept his flamethrower on them, killing them in seconds. The gas-masked person suddenly lifted the flamethrower above his head and laughed manically.

The RED Spy ran past him as Pyro started for the courtyard, looking for his perfect disguise. Pyro paid him no mind and ran for the stairs. Then he heard the rapid fire of their Engineer's sentry gun shooting just behind the Pyro. He turned around to see a bullet-ridden BLU Spy lying on the ground behind him.

"That damn Spy don't think none of us are worth helping!" the RED Engineer shouted down to his teammate. Pyro figured that the BLU Spy had snuck up behind him as their Spy ran by. He was never much of a team player.

"Mphm mrr hrmrr mrhphrh (This spy wasn't cloaked)?" Pyro shouted back.

Engineer scoffed and replied, "Not in the slightest."

Pyro looked down at the at the enemy spy for a moment before flaming him with his flamethrower. Then he waited a second before giving another puff for good measure.

The Engineer laughed. "Yeah, I hate 'em, too!"

"_We've taken the enemy intelligence!_"

Engineer smiled and shouted, "Yeehaw! Looks like we're having a good day, partner! Tell you what, why don't you come up here with me and we'll wait for that briefcase to get over here."

The Pyro ran up the stairs and stood beside the Engineer's dispenser, sitting in the corner of the walkway at the top of the stairs. They sat in silence for a minute, perhaps trying to listen for the obvious sound of someone running around.

"Did you hear 'bout our new Scout?" Engineer asked his friend.

The Pyro shook his head in response.

"I wonder if the kid has the intelligence..." he wondered out loud.

There was a moment of silence before the two looked at each other and started laughing. They were cut short when a sticky bomb suddenly tacked against the wall beside them. Engineer gave a startled yell upon seeing it. Pyro went straight to action, however, and jumped down to the ground below and flamed the offending Demoman. He screamed and took off, falling to the ground soon after. When the Pyro returned, he peeled the sticky bomb off the wall and threw it over the fence. At least, he tried. It had stuck fast to Pyro's glove. He gave a quick sigh as he ran over and tacked it to an empty space in the wall where it finally released his glove. When the Pyro stood up by the Engineer's dispenser again, their new Scout ran across the courtyard screaming. Papers were flying out of the briefcase on his back.

"Shit! Can somebody help me?" the kid yelled.

"Jesus H. Christ, the kid does have the intelligence!" Engineer said in disbelief. "Get up here, boy!"

The guy ran up here and cowered behind the Engineer's sentry while it sprang to life to shoot the enemy Scout chasing after him. The Engineer laughed when it was all over. "Those kids always fall fer it!"

Pyro chuckled to himself, although was slightly disappointed at not getting to set the enemy on fire again.

"Wow, thanks man!" the Scout said, amazed.

"It's what I do, son!" Engineer patted the boy on the back and added, "Now run along to our intel room and drop this off."

"Sure thing," he said and took off like lightning.

"Guess it's a short day, today," Engineer said. He whacked his sentry with his wrench and upgraded it. It now had a rocket launcher sitting on top.

"_We've secured the enemy intelligence._"

"First day here and he picked up the briefcase. I gotta hand it to the kid."

"Hm mrphhphp hm hrmphr (I'm checking on Sniper)," Pyro said and trotted down the walkway, ran past the locker room, and turned the corner. He saw the Sniper standing in his nest, rifle pointed across the river at the enemy's base. As Pyro turned to go back to the sentry, another Sniper bumped into him and stepped back.

"Sorry, mate," he said. "Didn't see ya there."

Pyro looked over at the Sniper in the Sniper's Nest for a moment before aiming his flamethrower at the new one, cleansing the imitator. "Mrph!" the Pyro laughed as the Sniper lit up in flames. He howled in pain and took off for the nearest water source. "Mrrh phrm!"

Pyro ran back to the Sniper for a moment, to double check that he was okay, and when he was satisfied, ran back to Engineer to help guard his buildings.

* * *

"Damn! You're pretty good, mate! Got all three briefcases for the day!" Sniper congratulated their new Scout.

"I didn't think I could do it at first, but it's pretty damn easy! I bonked both those Engies!" the kid replied, laughing afterwards.

Everyone was filing into the locker room to take a shower. When everyone was inside, Pyro counted all the heads, finding all primary teammates there, and then stepped outside.

"So, what's yer name, kid?" Engineer asked.

"They call me Vince!"

"Nice ta meet ya, boyo!" the black Scottsman said. "I'm tha resident Demoman. Name's Tavish!"

"Tavish is our resident drunkard, too," the Engineer said, dismissing the man. "My name's Wayne. Our Heavy Weapons Guy is Boris, the Medic is Reiner, our Soldier is John, Robert's the Sniper-"

"And you can just call me ze Spy," the Spy interrupted.

"Okay?" Vince said.

"No pressure rememberin' our names, though," Wayne said. "If all else fails, just think of our job titles."

"I thought there were nine of us," Vince questioned.

Robert chuckled, "Don't bother with Pyro. He's about as paranoid with his name as Spy is. Actually, the bloke's paranoid, period."

"Sounds awful suspicious, if ya ask me," the Scout replied. "I think I can understand the Spy, but the Pyro? He's probably just some old spy you guys unmasked years ago trying to steal our intel again."

"Scout have good point!" Boris shouted. "I vant to see Pyro's face!"

"That has to be the dumbest thing I ever heard," Wayne added.

"Besides, Pyro's been here too long for that. I came in just after he did," Robert stated.

"That don't explain the whole mask thing," Vince said.

The Sniper shook his head. "Maybe he just likes to remain anonymous. Besides, he's better out there than in here. One time, while we were all in here taking our showers, I came out see see the guy sittin' on top of two BLU Spies, a knife stickin' outta his shoulder."

"Oh, ja!" the Medic chimed in. "I remember! Ze guy acted like notzing vas wrong vit him. Just vanted to be sure everyone vas okay."

"That guy's still pretty suspicious if ya ask me," Vince said before heading into the showers.

Everyone was quick to bathe, and did so noisily. They jested each other and questioned the new Scout until they couldn't think of any more questions. By sitting quietly outside, Pyro could gather that Vince had no girlfriend, he had seven brothers, and loved the Boston Red Sox. None of which the Pyro really cared about. Well, not for baseball, at least. But they continued talking and getting to know the newbie.

As everyone was dressing again, the Scout said, "All that running wore me out. I'm gonna get some sleep."

Boris roared with laughter. "Is the leetul baby sticking to his bedtime?"

"Is our new Scout a momma's boy?" John said and laughed.

"What? I am _not!_" Vince shouted.

"Waaah!" Heavy imitated a baby's cry, mocking Vince.

"Aw, c'mon guys!" the Scout said. When they continued making fun of him, he gave up and said, "Whatever! I'm outta here!"

The kid pushed the locker room door open and stormed out, ignoring the Pyro. Everyone inside was half-laughing about what happened, but it quickly died down.

"I donno 'bout you boys, but Ahm gonna get me soomthin' ta drink!" Tavish said and started for the door.

"That sounds like a good idea, partner," Wayne said.

"I zink ve could all use a good drink," Reiner added.

Everyone else seemed to agree and they all just filed out of the locker room. They chatted amongst themselves as they walked down the hall, heading for the company lunch room. When they were all long gone, Pyro let out a sigh and opened the door. He walked inside and set the flamethrower down along one of the benches and opened his locker. After pulling off his gloves, the Pyro quickly reached up and stretched the rim of his mask out and pulled it up over his head. Then he reached up again to let his hair down...?

Wait, what? The Pyro's a woman! I've been using the wrong pronoun this whole time? How could this even happen? _I'm_ writing the story! Ugh... Well... This is embarassing... Let- Let's just get on with the story...

The Pyro pulled _her_ hair out of a small bun and pulled it apart to rest over her shoulders. Then she unzipped the suit to pull her shoulders out and free her arms. When she stepped out of it, she hung the suit up in the locker and let out a heavy breath. Pyro hated pulling that thing off. It was spacious inside so she was never uncomfortable having it on, the empty space keeping some of the heat off of her, but it was always awkward pulling it off. She pulled the wrapping off her chest and allowed her some freedom. It was good her chest wasn't too big, either, or else the wrapping would be all the tighter and more painful. Pyro pulled off her underwear, gathered her soap and shampoos, and quickly stepped into the shower.

The woman turned the shower on and quickly washed her body off, not caring to get everything clean. Then she turned to soak her hair and clean it of the oils that had begun to taint it. The Pyro closed her eyes and leaned back into the water to rinse her hair. When she was confident all of the shampoo was out, she leaned forward and brushed the water away from her face before opening her eyes again. Only to see the Spy standing in the doorway.

"Díos mío!" the Pyro shouted, panicked. She instantly spun around to face the wall and did her best to cover up.

"Looks like I've got your dirty little secret," the Spy said deviously.

"What do you want?" Pyro replied sharply.

"Want?" Spy replied. "Well..."

She scoffed. "You and I both know that's a bad idea."

He chuckled. "You're probably right."

There was a moment of silence, with only the sound of the rushing water smacking against the tiles. Then the Spy said, "You know, you look better zen I would ha-"

"Just get out," she snapped.

Spy smirked one last time before saying, "Fine, fine." Then he left.

Pyro waited a few minutes. "I mean it!"

The woman heard a faint chuckle as she guessed correctly to his lingering presence. The sound of the locker room door opening and closing finally allowed the woman to relax. She rushed to condition her hair and then turned the shower back off, gathering her things and returning to her locker. She pulled her underwear back on, wrapped her chest up again, and pulled on a pair of baggy pants and a t-shirt with a fire graphic on the front. The woman would always be a pyromaniac.

Pyro tied her hair back up in a bun before pulling her mask back on. She started to walk outside until she turned back to pull on one of her gloves for a moment. The Pyro watched the tiny flame on her flamethrower for a moment before putting it out and pulling the glove back off. Then she stepped out of the locker room to see the Spy standing where she was before, lighting up a cigarette.

She sighed again and pulled her mask up a bit to speak. "You won't tell anyone, will you?"

"I might," he said bluntly.

Pyro turned her head to look at the man.

The Spy added, "If you can do wat I want, maybe I won't tell."

"I'm not doing it with you," Pyro said quietly, but bitterly.

"Zat's not ze only use I have for you," he said, growing irritated.

The Pyro gasped. "I'll sooner let you backstab me than help you get our intelligence!"

The man snapped his head towards the woman and took the cigarette out of his mouth. "I'm not an enemy spy!"

"And what if I hit you with my flamethrower? Would you like that?"

"Be my guest!"

Though the Spy could not see it, the Pyro was clearly angry. The two stared each other down before the Pyro pulled her mask back down and turned to leave. After a few feet, she paused to lift up her mask again and said, "If you ever tell me to do anything I don't like, I will set you on fire, RED or not." Then she turned and stormed down the hallway, pulling the mask back down once more.


	3. Chapter 2

The Pyro had chosen to ambush the BLUs from her favored spot, the grate room. Although today was not their day. The BLUs had decided to move all their offensive players to the RED base and the whole team was stuck trying to defend themselves. And none of the BLUs actually had a chance to pass by her. And Pyro already knew jumping down behind them was suicide, with her only escape being to the sewers. The roar of Heavy's bullets was loud, if not slightly muffled by her mask. The BLU's Heavy Weapons Guy was facing off against him, and both were being healed by invisible Medics.

This was going nowhere fast.

Pyro tightened her grip on the flamethrower and prepared to jump into-

"Wait!" the Spy said, just barely loud enough to hear. She snapped her head towards the man who waved for her to come here.

She looked down at Boris below, then back to him. The Pyro ran over to the and left the grate room, following the man to the small space beside the Sniper's platform. "Mrph (What)?" she asked.

"I need your help getting into ze enemy base," he said.

"Hrn (And)?"

"Well, it's me against a clever Engineer and a trigger-happy Pyro."

"You best be ready for a swim, mates," Robert said. "Unless you want to alert all the BLUs sittin' under me."

"How's it looking over there?" the Spy asked.

"Wait..." Sniper slowly replied. He suddenly fired off a shot. "Now!"

The Spy ran forward and dropped off the platform, the Pyro close behind. They both managed to land lightly and leap over the side of the road and into the moat below. The water was cool as they plunged beneath the surface. And it felt good. The Spy was already swimming ahead, and the Pyro had no choice but to follow now. She swam across the moat and climbed up into the sewers of the enemy base, chipping blue paint lining the circular tunnels. They ran until they reached the platform in the middle of the sewers where they paused to light the Pyro's flamethrower again and continue up into the base.

"I can handle ze Engineer, but I need a distraction for ze Pyro," the Spy said as we peered out from the top of the stairs.

The RED Pyro slowly nodded and darted out into the entrance. She ran past the hallway leading outside and set her sights on the doorway to the courtyard. Then suddenly, the muffled sound of a man in agony caused the woman to turn around and see the blue-suited Pyro lying on the ground, the Spy standing above him.

"You should really watch your back," he said. In an instant, he looked like the dead Pyro and ran past her into the courtyard. After a few minutes, she heard the loud crackling of his sapper and heard the Engineer scream. Peeking around the corner, she saw the sentry explode and the Spy place another sapper on the dispenser. The Pyro ran out to the man and up the stairs into the interior of the base, down the flight of stairs to the intelligence room.

Within minutes, they were at the door to the intel, turning the handle and creeping inside. Seeing nobody inside, they turned to each other and smiled, granted the Pyro's face was covered up. The Spy hurried to pick up the briefcase and strap it to his back.

"_We've picked up the enemy intelligence._"

And then they were gone. Running back across the room, out the door, up the stairs. They ran down and across the courtyard and out into the field, choosing to take the bridge this time. Half-way across, Pyro grabbed the Spy's shoulder to stop him and puffed her flames. He nodded and let her run ahead. It wasn't a good idea, but it had to be done. She ran up to the doorway on the right and jumped right in, laughing maniacally as she unleashed hell on the BLU team. They ran screaming from the hallway, trying to shoot the pyromaniac. The BLUs scattered, jumping into the moat to douse the flames. The Spy proceeded into the base, following the Pyro who high-fived the happy Boris.

She fell back, allowing the Spy to pass her on his way to the intelligence room. Instead, she ran up to the second floor and into the locker room to refuel.

"Pyro!" Wayne shouted. "There's a BLU Spy in the base!"

The Pyro stopped and looked at the man, seeing a butterfly knife sticking out of his shoulder. "Sph (Spy)?"

"Got me right before we picked up the intel," he said.

"Sph!" She ran up to puff him with her flamethrower, then took off out into the base and down to the intelligence room. Pyro took the stairs by the courtyard and flew down to the room below, darting into the hallway where their own door guarded their briefcase. She burst through the door to see the Engineer, looking at his PDA and talking to the Spy. They turned to see the Pyro, watching them through the void-black goggles in her mask. All three teammates sat there for a moment. Then the Pyro shouted "SPH!" and charged the false Engineer. With nothing but a quick puff of her flamethrower, he suddenly combusted and ran howling from the room.

Now appeased, the Pyro turned to the RED Spy, still holding the briefcase, and said, "Sph..." Then casually strolled out of the room.

When the door closed and the Spy was alone, he shuddered at the thought of being the BLU Spy. Then he shook his head, smiled, and dropped the briefcase off, returning to the fray.

Back inside the base, things had calmed down. The Pyro had held off on her shower for the night, choosing to take it later, although she still watched the door for the guys. When they had all left, she'd changed into a pair of sweatpants and a tank top, taken off her mask, and pulled her hair up to go to the one room they never thought to. She stepped into the room to see a line of treadmills, ellipticals, exercise bikes, weight benches, and a wall lined with dumbbells. The quiet hum of the vending machines in the back corner invited the woman to buy one of the water bottles inside. Then she took to one of the treadmills and began running.

A few treadmills away, another woman was running, with a pair a headphones over her head to pass the time. And other than a man lifting a dumbbell, the room was empty. And the Pyro liked it that way. The peacefulness of running without the pressure of trying to dodge bullets or avoid bombs was actually relieving.

"Hey..." a man's voice spoke up to her right.

She turned her head to see a young man stepping up onto the treadmill beside her. He shook out his blonde hair and was smiling, obviously trying to be charming. "Hi," she said and turned her head to face forward again.

"I don't think I've seen you around before. What's your name?" he asked. His machine kicked on at a slow, walking pace.

Pyro looked over at him again and narrowed her eyes. "I can't tell you that."

"You can't or you just don't want to?" He increased his speed so that he was jogging with the woman.

"I can't and _don't_ want to." The only quiet time to herself and some kid was trying to flirt with her.

"Oh, come on. What about for a cute guy like me?"

The man lifting weights dropped his dumbbell onto the rack and walked across the room to leave.

"Cute? Or annoying?" she replied.

He started laughing. Although it sounded awkward, like he was trying to reassure himself of how great he was.

"Listen-"

"Would you go away?"

From the corner of her eye, she saw him look at her. After a short moment, he stopped the treadmill and walked away, choosing to leave the weight room rather than stay. She couldn't help but roll her eyes. _That was absolutely pathetic..._ she thought.

For a few minutes, it was her and the woman on the other treadmill. That was until she also picked up a towel on the rail and left the room. Then she was alone. Her problems always came when she was a woman.

"Pyro?"

_That voice..._

"Ah..." He chuckled. "It _is_ you. Why are you working out? We've been out running around all day."

"Are you kidding? That was a joke!" the Pyro scoffed.

The Spy was surprised by her reply, and couldn't help but laugh.

"Why are you in here anyways?" she asked.

"Me? I'm looking for a drink."

Pyro stopped the treadmill. She turned around to see him standing at the vending machine. "A drink?" she said doubtfully.

"Ze ozher vending machine is broken." He shrugged. A bottle tumbled down into the base of the machine and he pulled it out. The Spy started to leave when he added, "I suppose I'll just drink my Coke somewhere else."

"No way, Pepsi is way better." She turned back towards the treadmill.

"Excuse me?" Spy stopped to look at her.

"Pepsi is so much better than Coca-Cola," Pyro stated.

"I highly doubt zat," he said with a confident smile, then continued out of the room.

"Yeah, you go drink your lesser soda!" she called after him.

She faintly heard him laugh from the hallway.

The Pyro shook her head. With a push of a button, the treadmill lurched forward again and she continued her run, unable to keep herself from thinking about that strange man.


	4. Chapter 3

Today was another slow day. The BLU team had taken to defending their intelligence, and so had the RED team. After yesterday's struggle of defense, nobody was too eager about leaving the base. Instead, everyone just wanted to get through the day without any casualties. They Pyro was exceptionally bored, however, along with the Sniper. Anyone who appeared on the BLU Sniper deck was instantly shot and killed. Which Robert didn't find very fun.

"For the love of god..." he groaned. "Can't anyone give me a challenge?"

"Hrnrsrrh... (Honestly)" the Pyro sighed. She sat back against the wall, keeping out of sight of anyone but the Sniper. Today, she wasn't up for chatting. She was up for killing. And the Sniper was the only person who completely understood. Not that he really wanted to talk about it anyways.

When the Engineer trotted onto the deck, the Pyro quickly hit him with her flames and was disappointed to see they didn't catch. Wayne ignored the action and said, "Come on, we're doing something about this."

Behind her mask, Pyro looked confused, but she stood up and followed him down to his sentry, sitting in the intelligence room. The team was standing around, talking amongst themselves. Everyone was bored, but not everyone seemed to mind the inactivity. The Engineer started pushing everyone together, minus the Sniper who was apparently their alarm to invaders, until everyone formed a vague semi-circle.

"All right, boys," Wayne started. "I think it's time to invade those BLUs, so ya'll better listen to my plan."

"Do we have ta?" Tavish complained. "It's so bloody hot out 'ere taday..."

"Do you want to get fired?" Wayne asked.

"Well, no, Ah s'pose not..." the Scott sighed.

"I know you would like a break soon, but we need to give it our all today. So here's what we're gonna do..." Wayne got into a whole plan about splitting the team into three different groups. Tavish, Robert, and John; Boris, Reiner, and the Pyro; and Wayne, Vince, and the Spy. The first team would stay back to defend the intelligence while the other two would go on the offensive. Team Two would take the bridge while Team Three took the sewers. The Pyro was happy to stay out of the sewers this time. Wayne instructed the two offensive teams invade the BLU base and take separate routes to the intelligence. Reiner's team would get everyone's attention so that Wayne's team could get down to the intel without too much trouble.

For a moment, the Pyro wondered why Wayne, of all people, was going over to snatch the intel, but she didn't question him. She already knew he wasn't a Spy.

"So that's it?" Vince asked. "We'll get that briefcase easy!"

Wayne smiled at the kid's enthusiasm. "Ya'll understand?"

"Why do _I_ have to defend the base? I wanna kill some Nazi bastards!" John shouted.

"I highly doubt zat anyone is really a Nazi here," Reiner said.

"Oh yeah? I bet you're one'a them Nazis!"

Reiner put his palm to his face. "I've already told you, dummkopf, zat I am not a Nazi."

"That's what they all say."

"Nein! It's not! Ze Nazis were proud of zheir ways, not cowards who denied it to save zheir hinterns!"

"I fought and killed hundreds of Nazis. I know a lot more than you do!"

Reiner groaned with frustration and left the room, muttering an angry rant in German. The Soldier smirked to himself, thinking he won the argument. Pyro shook her head and followed the man out of the room. Outside he leaned against the wall wiping his glasses off on his shirt.

"Shhrrhnhrnn?" she asked.

"Schweinhund," he repeated.

She chuckled and, seeing the Medic didn't want to say more, waited for the rest of the team to come out. John and Reiner often had problems with each other. After the Soldier had taken a personal campaign in Germany against the Nazis, he seemed to be distrusting of every German and often made his distaste for the Medic's heritage clear. And while he often pissed the Medic off, Reiner would always heal the man when he needed it.

When a minute passed, their teammates strolled out of the room, slowly gathering into their mini-teams as everyone went back up the stairs and out into the field, ready to invade the enemy base.

* * *

The Pyro yawned as she pulled her clothes on. It had turned out to be a longer day than she initially thought. The plan worked like a charm and they managed to snatch up all three of the briefcases today. The woman was more than happy to sleep early. As she pulled her mask on and left the locker room, she found the Spy standing by the door again. Other than themselves, the hallway was empty. She looked up at him for a moment, before pulling her mask over her mouth and saying, "You're guarding the door for me now?"

"You already made ze mistake of letting _me_ catch you in zere," he replied.

The woman slowly turned her head back to the man. He couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm gonna get some dinner..." Pyro said and walked down the hall. After a few feet, she stopped and turned around. "Hey, thanks for killing that Soldier for me."

Spy smiled and said, "It was ze least I could do. You did distract him for us."

She chuckled. "Yeah, glad to know I helped by taking those rockets for you."

"What are teammates for?"

"I think I liked you better when you hated everyone," the Pyro scoffed. Then she turned down the hallway and left the Spy alone.

The Spy lit up a cigarette as he leaned against the wall by the locker room door. For a while, he stood there, waiting. He looked in either direction of the plain hallway, with it's white-washed walls and red tile floors. And then suddenly, a young man appeared, sporting a plain black suit and short blond hair.

"There you are," the man said with a charming smile. "You don't have any better place to chat?"

"It's better zhan being watched in every ozher room," the Spy said. "Do you want to talk or not?"

The man walked into the room and the Spy followed. Spy stood facing the lockers, arms crossed, while the man took a seat on the bench in front of them. The instant he sat down, his smile left his face. "Let's get down to business. I'm here to make you an offer on behalf of my employer to join the BLU team."

The Spy smirked. "What makes you zhink I want to join your little team?"

"My employer is willing to pay twice as much as you are now and give you better benefits than the RED team can offer," the man replied.

"I've been with zhis company for a while now and I'm more zhan comfortable here..." the Spy said.

"We all have our own private rooms, professional chefs to cook all of our meals, and can choose to shower alone, as well..." The blond cast a glance around the room.

"Why is it your employer wants me now?"

"Well, we have new plans in store and consider you very valuable in them. You've been here for a while, haven't you?"

Spy took a long drag on his cigarette and breathed out a cloud of smoke. The man sat there watching him with cold eyes calculating his every move. It wasn't a simple decision to just switch companies. "Am I expendable?"

"No."

After a short moment thinking over his options, he removed the cigarette from his mouth and said, "I will zhink about it."

The man pursed his lips and slowly stood up. "I understand. But don't wait too long to give me your answer. You're not expendable when you're one of us, but we won't wait for you." He strolled over to the door and left, leaving the Spy with nothing more than his thoughts. The offer was good. No, it was better than good, it was probably one of the best he'd ever gotten. But there was obviously a catch to it. And either he was going to be a part of it or he was going to stop it.

The Spy put the cigarette back in his mouth and silently left the privacy of the locker room.


	5. Chapter 4

It seemed as if today was going to be a ceasefire day. They only ever got one per week, so it was nice to hear the Administrator's voice as it crackled over the loudspeakers to announce it. Everyone gladly slept in, even if only for a little bit longer for a few early birds. But the Pyro woke up at least an hour later before she got up to go eat breakfast. She walked down the hallway, with only a pair of socks to protect her feet from the cool tile, and found her way to the lunch room. It looked like a small cafeteria, the tables reminiscent of a diner and a long table along the far wall filled with various foods. And at the moment, it held breakfast.

The room was generally empty, save for the few company employees who also lived in the building. They grew quiet as the Pyro walked across the room and picked up a plate and started stacking waffles onto her plate, along with some fresh toast and more than a few pieces of bacon. Then she walked back out of the room and around the building until she reached an alcove with a door labeled 'Clinic'.

Pyro opened the door and saw the Medic turn to look at her. "Ah, guten morgen, mein freund. You vish to eat vit me again?"

She nodded.

The Medic glanced at a clock on the wall. "I suppose I should go und get somezhing to eat, as vell. Pull up a chair und I vill return soon." He pushed a few papers on his desk aside to clear a space for the woman.

Pyro pulled up a rolling chair and set her plate down on the desk. She stretched the mask up over her head and took a deep breath.

"You shouldn't vear zat mask so much; it can't be good for you," Reiner said as he walked to the door. "Oh, lock ze door if you vant." And then he left.

She stood up and locked the door behind him, sat down again, and began to eat her waffles. The Pyro loved waffles.

A few minutes later, Reiner knocked on his door again and Pyro went and unlocked the door for him. By the time he'd gotten back, she'd already eaten one of her waffles. The Medic sat down opposite the Pyro and began eating his own food.

"Do you know why ze Spy has been so chatty lately?" Reiner asked.

"Not really," Pyro replied. It wasn't a complete lie, because she didn't even know why he wanted to talk more. He just did.

"I saw him talking to Vayne in ze lunch room and I don't ever recall seeing him do zhat," he said.

"He is a strange man," she said.

"I really hate him."

The Pyro smiled. "Maybe I should give him to you as a gift..." She knew all about Reiner's love for... _surgical_ things.

"I don't zhink I vould miss him if you did," he said, smiling. After a moment, he started chuckling darkly.

The Pyro laughed, knowing what he was thinking about.

They sat quietly eating their food after that. When the woman began finishing her meal, chewing up the last bits of her bacon, she stood up and said, "I'll see you around, doc."

"So long," the man said.

Pyro pulled her mask on again, picked up her plate, and left. Out in the hall, things were quiet. As she looked either way, she noticed the Spy turning the corner. He was the last person she wanted to see now. The Pyro quickly turned the other way and walked swiftly down the hallway, hoping to avoid the man entirely. She approached the end of the hallway, not daring to even glance back. Turning the corner, she jumped as she felt an arm lay across her shoulders.

"Bonjour!" the Spy said, a triumphant smile plastered on his face. "And how are you today?"

With her free arm, she pulled her mask up over her mouth. "You _are_ chatty today..."

"What do you mean? I haven't said anyzhing to you today."

"And you never talk to Wayne, either..." Pyro turned her head to him. "You are our Spy, right?"

"But of course!"

"Then why is your arm on my shoulders?"

"And here I zhought we were friends," he said and smiled.

She did her best to give him a suspicious look. "You are really strange."

"Since when did you and ze Medic become such _close_ friends, anyway?" he asked.

The Pyro understood what he was suggesting and said, "Since his first physical as the new Medic."

The Spy looked down at the woman with surprise.

"What? He was the only person who _knew _and the only one I could talk to without actually being fired."

"Fired?"

Pyro groaned in frustration. Why did he want to talk? More importantly, why did he want to talk out in the open? They reached the lunch room where the Pyro disposed of her dishes. The Spy took his arm off her shoulders as she entered the room, only to replace it when she left again. She only barely tolerated the action since she couldn't just punch her teammate in the gut whenever she wanted. But together, they roamed through the hallways.

"What do you mean by 'fired'?" he asked again.

"Just wait..." she replied irritably. Pyro hesitated at an intersection between three hallways and then took the left route. Towards the end, they walked into a stairwell going up. When the door closed behind them, she removed her mask and climbed the stairs. The Spy silently followed her, like a lost dog, but with more snake-like affinities. His sneaky actions coupled with his insatiable curiosity were only twice as annoying as before. At the top of the stairs, she opened a door and stepped out into the warm, morning sunlight.

"Ze roof?" the Spy said when he stepped outside.

"The only truly quiet place. Those days that nobody can find me?" she said suggestively.

Spy nodded in understanding. After a moment of looking across the flat, concrete rooftop with it's raised barriers, he turned back to the woman. "Fired."

Pyro squeezed the bridge of her nose between her fingers. Then she said, "How do I explain this? Uhm... Yeah. The gist of it is, by letting any of you guys know I'm a girl, I can be fired."

He narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing what she just said. "But why?"

"The Administrator explained that with me being the only woman on the team, therefore being the 'weakest', I would be prioritized over the intelligence. So, to eliminate this problem, I hid my gender. Now most people _respect_ my privacy and don't bother me about it," the Pyro explained, a hint of passive aggressiveness tainting her voice by the end. "But so far, she's been right. With the exception of Reiner, but he's over my gender by now."

"What do you mean, 'she's right'?" he asked.

She raised her eyebrows. Then he took the hint. "Oh..."

"Yeah..." she said, nodding. The Spy had proven to be very helpful in the field recently.

They stood on the roof for some time in silence. Spy stuck his hand into his jacket to retrieve his cigarette case and pulled one out. He quickly lit it and put the case back. "How are you and ze Medic friends again?" It was obvious the man was trying to hide it, but there was a hint of a smile catching the corners of his mouth.

The Pyro couldn't help but smile and shake her head. "No, no. That's enough. I've told you why I hide my gender, and shown you my personal hideout, I think that's enough for now."

"Fine," the man said and shrugged.

"And now, if you don't mind, I want to have some time to myself, so go find something else to do, all right?" The Pyro turned and walked out the door and back down into the base.

* * *

The Pyro never wasted a day, never completely relaxed any day of the week, ceasefire or not. And after a quick shower, she decided a drink was in order for the first time in a long time. She left her sweatpants and tanktop on and let her hair down as she walked down to the lunch room and snuck into the kitchen. It wasn't that they weren't allowed in there, but it was always strange to be there. There were a few people still in there, preparing food and cleaning from earlier. The woman weaved her way around the various cooking stations and to the back of the room where a large refrigerator sat. She opened the door, cold air spilling out.

After a quick scan, all she could see were Tavish's bottles of Scrumpy. She frowned. Pyro shifted the contents of the fridge around, but still found nothing. Thinking it over, she grabbed a bottle from the fridge and closed the door. She tasted the drink and was surprised at the flavor. She glanced around the room, suspiciously looking at anyone who dared to look back, then creeped away, hoping the Demoman wouldn't mind her taking one of his bottles.

And then she found herself wandering the hallways. The Pyro wasn't even sure where she was, but she knew she was tired, drunk, and just wanted to sleep. She didn't even know what time it was. But it was obviously late. Pyro stood in the middle of the hallway, forgetting where she was. She looked at the bottle in her hand, sloshed it around to feel it about half-empty, then took another drink. The world around her seemed dizzying and ethereal as she began to stumble down the hall again, using the wall as a crutch.

"Hey! What are yoo doin' wit mah scroompeh?" Tavish said.

Pyro looked up and squinted her eyes to see the Demoman standing in front of her. "I'm drinking it..." she slowly said.

"But that's mah scroompeh! You can't drink that!" he slurred out.

"Oh yeah? I will cut you!" She turned the bottle on its side and tried to break it on the wall, but couldn't bring herself to hit it hard enough. The woman tried again with the same effect. "I will cut you... Somehow..."

After a moment, Tavish began howling with laughter. The Pyro joined in, with a more subdued, but equally drunk, laugh. They stood there laughing and nearly falling over a couple times and finally began leaning on each other.

"Yer a funneh lass, ya are..." Tavish said. "But don't ever touch mah sroompeh again...!" He started laughing again and walked down the hallway.

"Why don'cha keep yer bottle then?" Pyro shouted and drifted away from one wall and to the other.

The man turned around and started walking back to the woman, but for every step he took forward, he took two back. At one point, he got in front of her again and held his hand up as if to take the bottle from her, but didn't get close enough to take it. "Would'ja quit movin' away from meh?"

Pyro started laughing and just turned and walked away, heading for the barracks-room again. The Demoman barely seemed to notice she left and just forgot about taking the bottle from her. She somehow found her way back and shuffled over to her bed where she sat down and began to lie down when something pushed her back up. Or pulled her. When she looked up, she saw a man in a balaclava holding her shoulders.

"Drunk, maskless, and trying to sleep in your bed," the Frenchman said.

"I do what I want..." she said pointedly. When she started to take another drink, the man took the bottle from her hand.

"Let's take you to zhe Clinic," he said.

"Nooo...!" she groaned. "Reiner will be mad."

"I'll let you have more of zhis if you come with me," he replied, shaking the bottle.

Pyro smiled. "Oh-kay!" She started to stand up and then plopped back down on the bed. The Spy rolled his eyes and rested one arm on her back while sliding another under her knees. Then swept her up off the bed. The woman didn't even notice the bottle of scrumpy was now missing from his hands. It was a matter of minutes before they were in the Clinic and the Pyro was being laid down on one of the beds. "So what about that scrumpy?"

The Spy flopped her black mask down on her face. "Aw..." she said when she pulled it off her face.

"Why did you decide to drink Tavish's scrumpy anyways?" he said, wheeled the rolling-chair to her bed and plopped down.

"It was all that was in the... fridge, and I had scrumpy before, it was nice," she replied.

"But not Tavish's?"

She slowly rolled her head from side to side.

"You obviously failed to realize he likes stronger scrumpys," the Spy said.

"I guess so..."

"What is your name, anyways?"

Pyro started giggling. "I can't tell you that!"

"Why not?"

"I already told you!" She picked the mask up off her check and started stretching it this was and that.

The Spy smirked. Even drunk, she still had some sense. He watched her as she lay examining the mask. "So you're friends with Reiner, right?"

Pyro popped her head up. "Yeah, I am."

"And I take it from the physical you mentioned he saw you naked, too?" the Spy smiled as he spoke.

Gaping her mouth, she sat up and said, "What? He has never seen me naked!"

"Is zhat what it takes to be your friend? Because I'm just fine with zhat!" he said, staring at her the whole time with a devious smile.

While the Pyro wanted to shout at him, she shut her mouth and glared at him, unintentionally blushing.

"Are you blushing?" he said suddenly. For a split second, the Pyro's eyes widened. Then the Spy started laughing. "You are, aren't you?"

Pyro crossed her arms and turned away. "I'm not blushing, I'm drunk!" The Spy simply sat laughing to himself.

"What zhe hell?" Spy and Pyro turned to look at the door, where Reiner was sticking his head in and holding a hand to the light switch.

"Heyy...!" she said, suddenly smiling. The Pyro lifted a hand up and shouted, "I'm drunk!"

Reiner narrowed his eyes for a moment before remembering the Spy. He stepped inside and said, "And vhat are you doing here? Terrorizing zhe poor girl?"

"Yes! He is!" Pyro shouted.

Spy whipped his head around to look at her with a hurt look. Before he could say anything, the Medic walked over to him and stood between the two. "Rous!" he shouted. "Get out!"

He stood up and said, "Come on, I-"

"Nein!" Medic said.

"Nein, nein!" Pyro repeated, standing up behind him. Although she instantly started leaning to the left and stumbling to get back on balance.

"Vhat are you doing, fräuline?" he said and turned to the woman, easing her back onto the bed. "And you. Leave, now!"

"Fine, but quit acting like zhat is not zhe Pyro," he said and walked to the door.

"It's not!" Reiner said. When the Spy left, he glanced at the door before turning to the drunk. "Vhy did he say zhat?"

As the Pyro got settled back on the bed, lying flat on her back, she pulled her mask out and turned it towards him. When the man put a hand over his face, Pyro pulled the mask up to cover her own. "So he really knows?"

The door popped open. "I tried to tell you," the Spy said and closed the door again.

The Medic jumped when it happened and just looked from the door to the woman.

"I didn't _tell_ him..." she said.

"Zhis vill be a very long night." He sighed as he sat down with the Pyro.


	6. Chapter 5

The next morning, Pyro found herself sitting on the floor of the Clinic's bathroom, her right cheek pressed against the toilet's water tank. Her stomach felt horrible, her throat burned, and her head throbbed as she looked around. She rubbed her eyes and stood up, then dark spots began clouding her vision. She leaned over to get cure the head rush; when it was gone, she slowly straightened up again. Pyro flipped on the light switch in the bathroom to be instantly blinded. She threw a hand over her face and fumbled for the switch again, and when the lights were back off, she walked out into the dark Clinic and looked around. Reiner was sleeping on one of the other beds, his boots sitting on the ground beside him. Lying across the bed closest to the door, however, was the Pyro's gas mask. She groaned and shuffled over to pick it up.

Pyro eased herself onto the bed, holding the mask in her lap with one hand, and leaning her forehead into her other hand, resting it on her knee. The woman ran over the events of yesterday, thinking up to the point where she went to the kitchen for a drink. She vaguely recalled Tavish's scrumpy, but that was it. She ran her hand through her hair. This was very disappointing.

After a short time, she began smacking her lips, feeling the dryness in her mouth. She stood up and walked to the door. Upon opening the door, she was blinded again. Pyro retrieved her mask, pulled it on much to her dismay, and ventured back outside. It must have been early in the morning because nobody was out moving around and nobody had even announced the day's mission to begin. The Medic wasn't gone yet.

Pyro found her way to the recreation room, where a number of vending machines sat offering little snacks and drinks to the RED employees. She shoved her hands into the small pockets of her sweatpants and was glad to find her wallet still there. After pulling out a dollar, the woman examined the drink machine to find all of the Pepsi sold out. Her head fell against the plastic window as she groaned again. She opened her eyes again and looked around to see a number of Coca-Cola bottles. Rolling her head towards the door to be sure nobody was watching, she inserted the dollar into the machine and opened the bottle that tumbled out. The Pyro lifted up her mask to free her mouth. With a quick drink, she found her stomach settling down a little. After another drink, her mouth stopped being dry. And a third allowed her to get the full taste of it.

And it was delicious.

Not that she would admit it to the Spy, now. The woman replaced the cap and pulled her mask back down. She shuffled back to the Clinic and locked the door behind her. Removing her mask again, she drank more of the Coke and slowly settled back down onto her bed, drinking all the while, and eventually fell back asleep.

* * *

As the two mercenaries slept in the Clinic, the Soldier came to the door and began to open it, only to be yielded by the lock. Then he began banging on the door, which startled them and sent them into a dazed panic. "HEY DOC!" John shouted. "Are you in there?"

The Pyro looked around wildly for her mask to hide it before anyone else saw it. Reiner simply dragged himself off the bed and to the door. As he flicked on the lights, the Pyro flung her hands over her eyes. He slid his glasses on just as he unlocked the door which shot forward and narrowly missed him as he jumped back.

"I am ashamed of you, maggot!" he shouted upon seeing the both of us. "You better hope you perform well in today's mission or else I _will_ think you're trying to take a spa day like the woman you are!"

The Medic just glanced back to the Pyro, who sat up with a confused expression.

"Excuse me for being a good medic and vatching zhe fräuline to keep her avay from zhe likes of you," he retorted.

"Well you better hurry up and get ready, Nazi, or you will be left behind!"

"Ja, zhat's good to know..."

The Soldier left to eat breakfast, leaving them alone and wide-awake. The Pyro slowly stood up and started to pull her mask on.

Reiner snatched the mask from her hands and said, "Nein, you vill stay here und rest. Und if I find you you vere trying to excercize again, zhere's a number of medical experiments zhat I've been hoping to try out."

"My goggles are tinted, and my head isn't hurting. There's nothing to stop me from doing the mission," she said.

With her hands covering her eyes, she didn't see the Medic reach around behind her head. Instead, all she felt was the hard smack that made her head throb.

"OW! Why would you do that?"

"Sit!" he shouted. The Pyro complied. After a minute, he asked, "Still hurt?"

She slowly nodded.

"Exactly. Now just lay here und relax, okay?" Reiner said.

"Fine."

The Medic pulled his boots on, pulled his coat off a hook on the wall, and picked his gloves up off the desk. He disappeared out the door and left the Pyro to her own devices. Alone and bed-ridden, she figured she'd just sleep the hangover away. There was nothing better to do. As she was about to lay down, she realized Reiner had left the light on. She parted her fingers to look at the door through her hand and found the light switch. Pyro could think all she wanted, but it wasn't going to flip itself. The woman stood up and wandered blindly over to the door. As she got close, however, someone opened the door again, this time successfully smacking her in the face.

"Ow...!" She moaned.

"I'm sorry, I did not see you zhere," the Spy said.

"What? What are you doing here?" Pyro asked.

"I just came to see if you were feeling bad yet," he replied. "And I zhought right." The man couldn't help but smirk.

"Okay, great. You know I'm hungover, so what? Turn off the light for me and go away..." The Pyro found the door handle and held onto it, prepared to lock it when he left.

"Fine, fine..." his voice drifted into the room. When he spoke again, he was not in the doorway anymore. "I must admit you were quite amusing last night."

"Excuse me?"

Spy chuckled before walking back to the door. "So you are staying here for zhe day?"

"Yes, now if you please..."

"Well zhen, I shall see you tonight..." he said with a smile.

"I look forward to it," Pyro groaned out. A small click later, the room darkened ever so slightly behind her eyes and the faint tapping of shoes echoed down the hallway. She closed the door and locked it, then removed the hand from her face and was thankful there were drapes on the windows. When she lay back down, she happened to glance at the small table beside her bed to see a blueberry muffin that was not there before. The Pyro closed her eyes and laid her head down, simply going back to sleep and wondering why he would do that.

* * *

The Spy ran through the BLU's base, looking for a good kill or two to pass the time. He wasn't really sure if it would be of good standing to take their intelligence now. They seemed fairly occupied now, with the BLU Engineer's sentry set up in the entrance hall which was easily avoided. So he could take the intel, but it just seemed too easy. All he seemed to be doing was strolling through their base, disguised as the enemy Demoman. When the BLU Soldier ran past him, he couldn't resist chasing after him. He readied his butterfly knife, poised to strike, but felt a hand grab his shoulder. It was firm and stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Is that really wise?" a familiar voice muttered behind him.

Spy wheeled around to see the face of the blond man. "I haven't exactly decided yet..."

"We have a good team going for us, now. I'd hate to lose that," he said.

The Soldier finally disappeared from sight around a corner leaving the two alone.

"You still haven't told me what you are doing zhat requires my assistance," Spy replied in a hushed tone.

The man glared at him, scrutinizing his motive, then finally said, "I'll tell you this, we're sick of this whole back-and-forth thievery. Every day it's the same thing and for what? A bit of information that isn't really worth that much?"

He paused so the Spy could think about it. To see the truth in his words. His brows came together as he thought harder about it.

"Now if we just... get rid of one problem, the intelligence is free to take and we end these pointless fights. If you want, you can think of it as saving lives of future successors to this mercenary business."

"Yes, zhere's zhat detail, but what about zhe fact of our steady pay?"

"Imagine what your employers would pay to get back all that intelligence," he said bluntly. "They'd do anything to get it back."

"And if zhey're not willing to pay?"

"Then we're the new world power."

"Zhat means getting rid of zhe RED team?" the Spy asked.

"Unless they decide to go quietly, that's how it will be," he replied. "So what do you think?"

"I must say I like the plan more now. But I will still have to zhink about it."

"Don't even think about telling your little friends, either," the man threatened. "And I would very much like for you to stop killing us now." He cloaked and took off, leaving the Spy to consider the man's offer. It was hard to resist saying yes.

* * *

After a long day of the usual killing, everyone gathered in the locker room again to take showers and clean up. As the Spy strolled into the locker room, he saw his teammates staring in awe as the Pyro stepped out of his suit and reached up to pull his mask off. When the kid took it off, he shook out his shaggy brown hair and put his personal suit and mask into his locker.

"Wait, that's it?" Vince said. "You keep that mask on twenty-four seven for no reason? I thought you would'a had some kinda... horribly disfigurin' scar or somethin'!"

The Pyro turned around and looked confused. "What?" The guy was actually fairly young, but not nearly as young as Vince.

"Here you had us thinkin' you had somethin' wrong with your face, maggot!"

"Why does leetul Pyro always wear mask, then?"

"What are you guys talking about?" the man asked again.

Spy chuckled quietly to himself, already going to take a shower. The Medic went over to his teammates and patted the confused Pyro on the back. "Zhis is our secondary Pyro."

Everyone said "Ohh...!" simultaneously.

"What?" Vince asked this time. "What am I missin' here?"

"There's plenty 'a people who die out here, this being a battlefield after all," Wayne started. "So we can't afford to have just one sort'a mercenary out here. When the team starts gettin' killed, there's someone behind the scenes to replace 'em."

"So, like a back-up?" Vince said.

"Exactly."

"I get it. But if we didn't have a mission yesterday, who killed our Pyro?"

Boris suddenly gasped. "There is Spy among us!"

The secondary Pyro's eyes went wide at this, but as he tried to turn and get his own flamethrower, the Medic held him steady. The man was confused as everyone began bantering about who it could be. When they started getting heated up about it, Reiner started yelling, "OKAY! Okay! Enough! Our Pyro is not dead! He took a sick day!"

Everyone instantly began calming down.

"Well, where is the guy?" Vince asked.

Nobody noticed that the Spy was beginning to pull his suit back on. He had also taken the metal box from their Pyro's locker and was trying to crack the combination, holding his head obviously close to the box.

"He is back in zhe Clinic, resting." Reiner's last word was forceful, and everyone got the hint that he should be left alone.

Except the Scout. "Well, where's his mask? If he's sick, he shouldn't wear it right?"

"Vell, no, he shouldn't..." Reiner said.

The Scout's face lit up as well as the others'. The Heavy, Soldier, Demoman, and Scout all began rushing for the door.

"Gentlemen."

They turned to see the Spy standing behind them and were suddenly stupefied.

In this moment, the Spy spoke up. "I highly recommend you all at least go out in proper attire. More zhen zhat, I recommend you bathe first."

They all looked down to realize they were wearing little to nothing. They all darted back to their lockers to grab their clothes and pull them back on. Meanwhile, the Spy casually walked out the door, nobody noticing he carried a bundle of clothes under his arm. Outside, he walked faster to reach the Clinic before anyone else could.

A minute later, he reached the door, finding it locked. He knocked and said, "'Allo, mon ami de feu."

The real Pyro unlocked the door and opened it for him, a confused look on her face now. "What is it now?" she asked.

"I zhought I'd be nice and give you zhis before our teammates come and catch you wizhought a mask." The Spy handed her the bundle of clothes.

Her face went from confused to shocked. "How did you get these?"

The Spy simply shrugged. "Now go put zhem on." He shooed her away and she disappeared back into the Clinic. A minute later, he cloaked himself and watched as his teammates rounded the corner and ran down the hall. They flew open the now unlocked door to see the Pyro, sitting on the bed, look up and wave at them. The Spy had to hold back his laughter as the men exchanged shocked, confused, and disappointed looks. As they turned away and walked past him, he slipped through the door and into the Clinic again where he decloaked and looked at the Pyro with a grin on his face. Then they started laughing.

"Okay, that was pretty funny!" Pyro said as she pulled off her mask to breathe.

While the Spy didn't see them, he could clearly imagine their faces. But seeing the Pyro just wave casually just seemed to be so taunting. When they calmed down again, the Spy said, "I zhink zhere's somezhing you should say to me."

It took a minute for her to catch on. She rolled her eyes, looked away and muttered something.

"Excuse me?" the Spy said.

"Thank you..." she repeated, then looked at him. A humored smiled appeared on her face again.

He smiled again.

"Don't get me drunk again," Pyro said.

He was confused and said, "Why would you say zhat?"

"It's a little too coincidental, don't you think?"

"No, you did drink scrumpy before, right?" The man walked to the door and left her to think about it.

After he was gone, she couldn't tell if he was telling the truth or pushing the blame to her. He could have easily hidden all their other drinks. As much as she wanted to know what happened last night, all she could do was pick up the muffin off the side table and pull of the wrapper.


	7. Chapter 6

Today was a long day. It was nothing but chaos out in the field and the Pyro was exhausted for once. But she could feel how hungry she was and simply decided to go eat dinner. She waited for everyone outside the locker room, as always, took a quick shower after them, thankful the Spy had chosen to do something else for a change, and made her way to the lunch room. She pushed the door open and found Boris, Reiner, and Wayne sitting at a table. As she walked across the room and began picking up a plate, the Pyro felt a tap on her shoulder. Behind her was the Medic.

"Zhis vas left on my desk for you," he said, handed her a note, and returned to his table.

A note. They usually didn't get notes, mostly because they often carried bad news. She was quick to open it.

_Pyro,_

_You know where I am._

_5578_

This must be really bad. As cryptic as the message was, the Pyro knew exactly what the note was talking about. She just hoped this had nothing to do with her shadow.

Forced to skip dinner, the woman left the lunch room and wandered down the hall, constantly glancing around to see if anyone was following. She reached a plain door labeled "Maintenance" that had a door handle with a keypad. With a quick glance at the paper again, she punched in four digits and turned the handle, darting inside. The Pyro took off her mask, flattened her hair some, and walked down the stairs, down below their floor, down, down, and finally reached the bottom, four floors below their own.

She nearly began wringing her mask in nervousness.

Reaching a door, she opened it into a large room with an identical door across from her and a small desk in front of a frosted glass wall, a metal door in the center, to her left. Filing cabinets and bookshelves lined the walls around the room.

"Good, you're here," a woman, Miss Pauling, said from behind the desk. She scribbled away, filling out documents of some sort with a number of them still spread out across the desk. After a moment, she looked up to address the Pyro. "She's waiting for you inside."

The Pyro nodded and walked into the room behind the desk. Beyond was a plain room besides a whole wall of televisions displaying the view of various security cameras. In front of them was a desk, a woman sitting behind it. She was wearing a black business dress and puffy black hair with a gray streak centered above her forehead. Her face was angular and bitter, with concave cheeks, thin lips set in a deep frown, and bored but piercing eyes that dared you to humor her. It may have been pleasantly warm in there had it not been for those eyes. A chill ran down the Pyro's spine.

"Sit," the Administrator said and motioned to the chair across from her.

Pyro sat.

"First off," she started, "this came for you." The woman pulled a package out from behind her desk and slid it across. It was already opened, obviously, to check for anything they could not have. There was a list of these things, but it was so short it might as well not exist. When the Pyro took the package, the Administrator spoke up again. "I'm very disappointed in you." Her voice was ice. "You think I wouldn't notice anything?"

The Pyro waited for her to continue.

"I'm amazed you let yourself get drunk like that, but it seems you have lost all enthusiasm you had for your job. And only a fool wouldn't notice the complete personality change our Spy had."

Her head finally drooped.

"I have this pink slip here, and I'm seriously considering giving it to you. You've proven to be one of the best Pyrotechnicians I've ever hired and I'd really like to keep that, but you just don't care enough about the whole situation anymore." The Administrator paused, fingering a slip of paper on her desk, and thinking. "I want to fire you, but I won't."

She looked up, surprised. She wanted to ask why, because she deserved to be fired, but she didn't want the woman to change her mind explaining it.

"Slip up again, however, and I won't hesitate to deport you. Am I clear?"

Pyro went pale and nodded.

"Now go do your job," the woman dismissed her and Pyro stood up and left.

She walked out of the Administrator's office, through the room full of files, and down the long hallway. She breathed out, relieved that she wasn't actually fired. But she still had to be more careful.

Hoping to take her mind off of what happened, she began fumbling around with the package in her hands. The Administrator had taken to telling all the mail-room employees to direct the Pyro's mail to her office where she checked the contents. Nobody thought much of it, since it was addressed with the Pyro's true name and was one nobody could use since no one else knew it, so there were never any worries for bomb threats.

Opening the lid, she found a long box inside, probably containing clothes, but as she pushed her way through the door and into the stairwell, she was startled by the long brushing sound of two pages being slid across each other. Pyro instantly looked up to see the Spy standing there, leaning against the stairs.

The man smiled as he closed the file in his hands. "Hello Pyro," he said. "Or should I say _Lucía_?"

The woman's heart sank into her stomach and a look of horror masked her face. She dropped the package and ran up to him, trying to snatch the file from him, but he held it above his head. She cursed him for being so tall.

"Oh, come on! I want to look at it some more!" he joked.

"This isn't funny!" she said and jumped. The man tried to move his hand out of her reach but her hand hit it and she managed to slide it from his grip. It fell to the ground, papers coming loose and flying across the floor. The Pyro jumped to gather everything up and the Spy stood by, knowing he would only make it worse by trying to "help". When she got everything back into the little filing folder, she stood up and started walking down the hallway.

The Spy ran up behind her and whispered, "I don't zhink it's a good idea to go put zhat back."

He was right. And knowing this, he took the file from her again, walked backwards towards the door to smile at her nicely, and disappear. The door slowly and silently opened as he crept through, avoiding large movements that Miss Pauling might see out from the corner of her eye. And then it closed back.

She wanted to rip her hair out she was worrying so much. The Administrator told her one last mistake. Finally, she turned and started walking back down the hallway, not wanting to be there when he came back. The Pyro didn't hear the door open behind her, just suddenly saw the man appear beside her, as if he were escorting her from the office.

Paranoia seized her as she looked either way down the hall for the glowing red lights of the security cameras. And she looked for them in the stairwell, but found none. She picked up her package again and climbed the stairs. Pyro didn't want to speak to the Spy right now. She wanted nothing to do with him. From the corner of her eye, she did see him glance down at her. It was clear he wanted to talk, but he must've noticed her mood and said nothing.

They reached the top of the stairs and stopped so she could put her mask on again. And then they walked out into the hallway, back on their own floor.

"So, when were you going to tell me you were from Spain?" he asked, finally.

"Nhvhr (Never)," she snapped behind her mask. For a moment, she turned to look at him, hoping her glare might pierce her goggles, then she turned and walked away. When he started to follow, she whipped around and pressed a hand to his chest, then walked him backwards while spewing out a number of muffled, nonsensical words. And then once more, she turned and left, alone.

* * *

It had probably been hours now since she first got up to the roof. The Pyro was sitting, back pressed against the wall and her arms wrapped around her knees. She worried and fumed, thoughts churning through her head telling her what she should have done and what she should do. First and foremost, she was scared that the Administrator would catch wind of this. Secondly, she was angry with herself for not being more careful in the first place. But that paled in comparison to how angry she was with the Spy.

The minute she got up there, she ripped open the package and pulled out her lighter to burn whatever she could. Inside had been some new clothes for her as well as a letter. She wasn't allowed to actually respond, but it did help to burn the paper. When she'd unwrapped everything, it was all turned to ash beside her. Well, all but the clothes.

The door popped open and she saw it swing around the wall she sat against. It disappeared behind the wall again and slammed shut. Then the devil walked around outside the door, and finally found her. The Spy walked up to the Pyro and dug his hands into his pockets. "All right, I'm sorry. Maybe I stepped out of line with zhat one-"

"Maybe?" she looked up at him. Releasing her legs, she stood up and regarded him with anger. "Do you even know why I was down there?"

"Well, no."

"You didn't bother to ask. You just strolled in, took my damn file, and acted like nothing was wrong!"

"It's not like-"

"No!" Pyro shouted. "I was tolerant of your chatty behavior, your weird attachment to me, but you went _beyond_ the line! I was down there because the Administrator was going to fire me because you knew!

"She told me 'slip up again, and you're gone'. And that was it! You, being the nosy _idiot_ that you are, had to follow me and read every bit of information about me and not even try to ask me. Why would you do that?"

"Excuse me for knowing zhat you would never tell me about yourself," he said. "But I like getting information-"

"So it's just business, then?"

"No-"

"Then what? Why do you _have _to know me? I don't want you as a friend or anything and yet it's like you're trying to make me like you. What _use _am I to you anyways?"

The man stood there, staring at her. There was nothing he could say.

"Forget it," Pyro said finally. She bent down to pick up a neatly folded pile of clothes and looked back at him. "Do whatever the hell you want. Get me fired if you want! Just leave me alone." Walking past him, she opened the door and went down the staircase, wanting nothing more to do with that man.


	8. Chapter 7

**AN - I really wanted to do more with this, that's why I waited so long to publish it, but I'm not gonna push it and make you read something that's not really important just to extend it, so here's another short chapter for now. And just in case you can't tell, this happens the same night as the last chapter. Hope you enjoy it.**

_Zhat did not go well_, the Spy thought to himself as he walked down the hallway. Maybe if he had actually tried to be sneaky about it. Not that it mattered since he wanted to use her name, anyways. But he realized she was right. For the time being, he didn't really have any use for her other than entertainment, a means to pass the time. Now she was mad at him. Furious, even. And there wasn't anything he could do about that. Well, he could amend their relationship.

"Tch," he tsked aloud. _What relationship?_

He took a long drag on his cigarette, a piece of ash falling on the floor beneath his foot. If he wasn't going to try to make friends with her again, there was no point to sticking around. BLU was looking right at him, too. I mean, why _not_ join them? It shouldn't be hard. Nobody really cared about him over here, instead they saw him as a nuisance in most cases. The Spy was always looked at as a double-crosser, thanks to his predecessor, a man who had taken to joining both sides and secretly profiting beyond anyone else there. At least, until he made a mistake and got his head blown off.

Even so, the offer was too sweet to pass up. The chance to finally be done with this nonsense. Although it was one of the few good jobs he'd ever found. Granted he risked his life every day in order to be payed, the money always flowed and he'd amassed quite a sum from this one job. To let that go was to let everything these people had worked for go. And he liked his set-up. It was familiar and safe and trustworthy.

Unfortunately, after so long, it was exhausting to go through the back-and-forth thievery. Constantly trying to take the other company's information. And what did they do with it? For all he knew, it sat down in that room, gathering dust. He never saw anyone take things from that room that wasn't trying to steal it. Not briefcases, not files, not even pages. So what was the point? BLU was sick of it and they were taking action to stop it. They wanted his help, no doubt for knowledge of the base's true interior.

But would it actually be worth it? The man kept second guessing himself, debating which side to take. This was the first time the BLU team had really tried to get him on their side. He wondered if he could actually trust them or not, that they weren't just going to use him and dump him for actually betraying his team.

The Spy's cigarette finally burned out. He crushed it beneath his foot and opened up his wallet to get another one, but paused. He was faced with a choice.

The cigarettes said, "Take one of us and quit whining. These guys trust you so don't abuse it."

But the disguise kit told him, "Put on a new face and disappear. All Spies do it eventually, so why not take what you can get?"

He pursed his lips, thinking long and hard about his options. And then he chose.

* * *

It was late. Too late. All the BLU Spy wanted to do was sleep, but the Medic insisted he get up immediately, so he got out of bed, put on a fresh suit and left his room, following the doctor down the hallways, tiled with blue linoleum and painted the same white as their base's twin. The lights were bright inside, and looking out a window down to the field below, he saw the lamps along the fences illuminating the water and the bridge. He could clearly see out to the RED base across the moat, with its own lit up windows. But everything else was black.

The Medic took him downstairs, down, down, and into the courtyard outside the base. He followed him to the entrance hallway where the man grabbed the sheet of metal blocking the door and pushed it up into the ceiling. Outside, he could see the bridge, but where he was looking, a flicker of red alerted him to the Spy's presence.

He smiled. "I'm glad you've decided to join us."

The man looked like their Engineer, but he knew who it was. The Medic smiled cruelly at his teammate, taking note of their success in the next part of their plan. The RED Spy remained silent until he stepped inside and the Medic pulled the metal panel back down. The Spy returned to his normal appearance, standing out amongst all the blue.

"Zhe outcome was never really in doubt," the RED said.

"Yes, well," the BLU Spy started. "Transitions can be a little messy, sometimes."

They walked back into the courtyard, heading up the stairs. The Medic suddenly muttered, "Can we capture the intel yet?"

"Oh, right. The door keeps jamming, should you decide to try getting the intel for us," the BLU Spy said optimistically. "Oh, and to give you a break, you can take the day off tomorrow, just to relax and let you get to know your new teammates, y'know?"

"What about my team?" the RED said. " I'm still alive."

"I will take your place for the evening. They probably won't notice your absence during the day."

"All right. But as a warning, don't talk to zhe Pyro. We are... not on good terms."

"Easy enough," the BLU said. "You're not going to stay here, of course, but remember that you are playing for our side now."

They walked up into the interior of the BLU base, a first for the Spy. He didn't question where they were taking them, just hoped he might rest for the night. And the BLU Spy wouldn't discourage his new associate so soon. If necessary, he would betray him after his use was fulfilled. So for the time being, he would simply show the RED to his new room, complete with blue, pin-striped suits, all in various sizes in case they didn't fit. And when they reached the unoccupied room, they bid the man good night and returned to their beds, leaving him to rest.


	9. Chapter 8

**AN – Again, took longer than I would have liked, but I've got it down now. Things are getting busy over here so chapters may be a little more few and far between in the future, but it won't last too long. Probably over the next few weeks, at least. Anyways, hope you guys enjoy the story. And do review, especially concrit reviews because they help me make the story better for you to read. It's well worth it. Just sayin'.**

Two whole days of peace and quiet. The only time she saw the Spy was in the hallway, where they simply ignored each other as they passed by. The man had taken to going off by himself again and staying out of the way, and Lucía did more or less the same. She never quite felt in the mood to chat with Reiner or try her hand at inventing another weapon with Wayne. She just didn't want to talk to _anyone_.

Granted, communication was key out in the middle of combat. They were being pushed back into their own base once again and Wayne made the smart comment that nobody was over at the enemy base. And he was right. The Pyro ran across the bridge, avoiding the crowd in the sewers and found nobody there. Sneaking up to the Sniper's deck, she ran down the BLU, cleansing him with her flames and laughing as he ran for the locker room. She turned around and ran back towards the courtyard but was startled when the locker room door beside her slid open. She turned her flamethrower on the enemy.

"Mon dieu!" the Spy yelled and jumped back inside.

"Hrh?" Pyro sounded aloud. _That__sounds__so__..._

She backed off a bit at the sound of the Sniper coming back and flamed him when he came through the doorway. The man jumped again and darted back into the locker room beside them. The Spy inside looked up and out through the open door and, despite wearing a blue suit and mask, looked exactly like their own.

The Pyro narrowed her eyes. This couldn't be a coincidence. Even behind a mask there was a certain shape to their faces and she had never seen a BLU Spy look like theirs. Rather than staying and trying to figure it out, and possibly getting herself killed in the process, she took off for the intelligence, hoping to get a good win in.

She ran down into the base, doubting either BLU would really risk it to come after her, and strapped the intelligence to her back. It was generally easy to get the intel back to their base. By now, the Spy was long gone, whoever he was, and the Sniper stayed back, trying to get a shot at the Pyro, but not getting the chance. When she ducked into the RED base, she ran through the entrance hall and right into the thick of it. A rocket glided past in front of her and she ran around the corner to get out of the fray. By the door to the courtyard, she saw the Soldier casting rockets back down the hall, a red glow about him.

"Shrdhrr (Soldier)!" she yelled down at him. He glanced over and nodded, focused on the enemy. Pyro started running towards him, taking that as an okay to go, and, turning her head down the hallway, she was amazed to see a rocket heading straight for them. The Pyro jumped, picking her legs up away from any splash damage she might take, and felt her pushed forward by the explosion. She tripped over her feet when she landed again, but she was all right and got back up. When she turned back, she saw John stepping away from the door and Boris trotting down to take his place.

"I will show these babies how to fight!" he shouted and turned the corner, unleashing Sasha.

The Medic, not so concerned about the Heavy yet, kept his medigun on the Soldier, healing some of the more serious injuries from the rocket.

"Go on, maggot, and capture that intelligence!" John yelled at the Pyro. He didn't complain about his injuries, no matter how bad they looked, but clearly knew to back off from fighting.

The Pyro ran up the stairs, down the ramp, finding her way to their intelligence room and set the briefcase down on the desk. As she lifted it off her back, however, a sharp pain seized her and she grabbed her left arm. No doubt she took more damage than she realized. Unfortunately, she still had a whole day ahead of her, so she turned back and ran back up into the field, prepared to hunt down the Medic if she started feeling dizzy.

* * *

"You should have come to me sooner, fräulein," Reiner said, holding the back of her arm next to his face. The Medic pushed a pair of tweezers into a cut in her bicep and the woman bit into her knuckle. A surprisingly large piece of metal emerged from the wound.

"Sorry," she muttered through her teeth. "It didn't seem so bad before."

"Zhat is because your adrenaline in zhe field blocks your sense of pain," he lectured. "You are lucky zhis didn't cut any deeper." The back of the Pyro's bicep was sliced open in a number of places, along with part of her back, all because of shrapnel from the rocket. Only now did Lucía realize it wasn't so pleasant to move around with a bunch of metal cutting you up.

The clack of the metal shard falling into the bowl with the rest of the shrapnel relieved her. Lucía's eyes were a bit teary, but she was otherwise all right. Reiner picked up his medigun from off his desk and used it on the Pyro. Within seconds, the wounds disappeared and she was good as new.

"Und zhis is vhy I am zhe doctor," he said triumphantly.

She rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Reiner."

The door clicked and swung open. The two looked to see the Spy walk in and close the door with a bare hand. He smiled and held up the same hand revealing a gash across the palm. "Remarkably enough, Tavish is drunk already. He tried to start a fight with me zhis time."

"Zhere's no glass in your hand?" Reined asked.

"No, just blood," he scoffed.

"Right," the Medic said and waved him over. "Come, let me heal you."

Lucía watched as he walked up to the bed and held the hand out. In a minute, the wound was healed and the Medic walked over to his desk to pull out a couple files and start recording their injuries.

"Zhis is zhe first time Tavish has picked a fight with you; I'm quite surprised."

"Wrong place at zhe wrong time, I guess," the Spy shrugged. While the Medic quietly wrote away, the man turned to the Pyro and picked up her hand. "Bonjour, mademoiselle," he said and quickly pecked it. "I sure hope you are all right."

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine," she said.

"I'd hate for such a beautiful lady to be hurt," he pecked her hand one more time before letting it go. "I must go now. So long, ma chérie." He turned and walked to the door, slipping away.

She looked at the Medic to gauge his reaction and only saw him looking at her, an eyebrow raised suggestively.

Lucía was only annoyed. "You didn't notice anything?"

"Notice vhat? You two in love?" He rang, then started lecturing again. "Zhat is a really bad idea, you know. It's one of zhe reasons vhy ve are not allowed to associate with zhe ozher company employees..."

The Pyro smiled and stood up, walking over to him as he talked on.

"I mean, you know vhy you don't let zhe ozhers know you are a girl-" Pyro smacked him across the back of the head and he whipped his head around to her. "Vhat vas zhat for?"

"_Zhat_ is not the Spy, _doktor_!" she shouted, half-mocking him. "I'm pissed with the real Spy and he knows it!" Lucía turned around, very much annoyed.

"No reason to take it out on me..."

She turned around to him and just stared at him. When he looked over, he raised his eyebrows and uncomfortably turned back to his paperwork. "Who do I make zhese medical records out for zhen?"

"Not our Spy, that's for sure. God, what am I saying?" she rambled. "If there's a stand-in for our Spy then where is he? And is he even our Spy anymore?"

"Vhat do you expect?" Reiner added.

Lucía ran her hands through her hair and groaned in frustration.

"Vhy are you mad at him anyways?"

"Did you read the note you gave me?" she asked him.

He nodded.

"When I went to see what it was about, he stole my company file and went through it...!" Pyro explained in a hushed tone.

"Zhat's it?"

"Well, he kept stalking me after that, the creep, so I told him off," she continued. "I didn't see him again that night."

Reiner started flipping through a few pages of one of the files on his desk and spoke up. "Vell, he vasn't much of a socialite amongst us, never got really attached to anyone here, besides you for zhat short time..."

"Don't say it."

"I don't have to," Reiner finished.

After a minute, she realized she was tapping on her arm irritably. She clenched her fist and started looking around the room. "I'll kill that man. He thinks it's so easy to betray your teammates..."

"Take zhe vaste basket, I have plenty of paper in zhere..." the Medic said without looking up.

Lucía smirked and stopped for a moment, looking at the door. Then she walked over to pick up the small basket and left the room, going off to cheer herself up again.


	10. Chapter 9

The blue tiles passed coldly under his feet as the Spy walked through the base. His hair was slightly damp still from showering recently, but it was hard to tell under his mask. It was actually really nice having his own bathroom and shower. He got to take his time bathing and wasn't so rushed to wash his hair before his watch ran out of juice. That's how he used to do it, anyways. It was good to have his own room here, too. He got to sleep in peace and privacy and didn't have to worry about someone turning on the lights and waking him up in the middle of the night. Just himself.

The Spy turned into the recreation room where the Demoman, Soldier, and Pyro were gathered around the TV, drinking beers and generally chatting while some western movie played on the few channels they had.

"Hey there!" the Pyro said and waved the man over. "How's it going?"

"Well enough," the Spy replied, looking the Pyro over. He didn't wear a mask, and so displayed that he was a young man in his early 30s, with short, blond hair. His identity was, disappointingly, no mystery.

"Ye don' like us?" the Demoman said. He was still Irish, but he was not as huge a drinker as Tavish.

"No..." the Spy said. "It's just strange being here and not zhere."

"Well, it's better to survive longer, I think..." the Soldier subtly bragged and took a swig of beer. "You heading out with us again tomorrow?"

The Spy nodded.

"It's good ta have yeh wit us," the Demoman said.

Pulling out his disguise kit, the Spy plucked a cigarette from it and hesitated to put it in his mouth; he forgot his lighter. When he looked back at the men, they had quietened back down to pay attention to a gunfight on the small screen. He cleared his throat and said, "Do any of you have a light?"

The Demoman and Soldier simply shook their heads but the Pyro scoffed, "No way. I'd hate to carry a lighter and set something on fire..."

The Spy shot the man a confused look. "You're zhe pyrotechnician."

"Yeah, I respect fire and distinguish the workplace from the residence." The man stared back with an eyebrow raised like the Spy should have known better.

"Look, forget the smoke and have a beer. Relax...!" Soldier chimed in.

"Eh... No, zhat's fine. I zhink I'll just go to bed," he replied and turned out of the room.

"Good night, boyo!" Demoman called after him. "Not too social, is he...?" his voice faintly added as he left, with a tone of disappointment.

They were nice to him, yes, and seemingly genuine in their actions to make him feel at home, and the Spy was fairly happy here. He was glad to be left alone instead of dragged along to whatever it was the person who found him was doing. And he was relieved to be away from the crazy people back at the RED base - getting drunk, starting fights, and generally being idiots. And yet there was one thing that was missing. He figured it was over and that he could just forget, but he couldn't help regretting going down after Lucía and picking up that file. It was funny because he knew so much about the rest of his teammates and he could care less if they were mad at him about it, but he didn't want _her_ to be mad at him. He wanted to simply walk back up to her and win her over again, to make her laugh and see her smile again...

He stopped.

He barely realized what he was thinking, and was surprised when he'd thought that. The Spy barely knew her and he was talking like they had much more between them. Continuing to his room again, he tried to push his thoughts back. He was a BLU now; he had no friends in RED anymore.

Ahead of him, walking down the hall toward him, was the BLU Spy. When he got close enough, the man slung an arm over the Spy's shoulder and started walking him the other way. "I like you," he said. "And I'm glad you're with us, but it's about time we proposed a few things to you. Some things you may not be entirely comfortable with yet..."

"What do you mean?" he asked, casting him a suspicious look

"That plan I told you about?" he said with a smirk. "It's about time you got in on it."

* * *

The Pyro walked through the cold hallway, her shoulders sagging from exhaustion. She'd glanced into a room to check the time and it was about 2:30 AM. There was no reason why she was up, but all she knew was that she woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. Finding her way to the locker room, she quickly used the bathroom and then picked up her flamethrower and pulled out a small tool bag from her locker. Pulling off her mask, she shut her eyes tight as the lights in the room blinded her.

The woman slapped the mask down on the bench in front of her and sat cross-legged on the floor. She re-did her hair in a low ponytail that curled around her neck and started working on her beloved weapon. She pinched the fuel-line, pulled it from the ejection tube, and started pulling the pieces apart, checking old screws and connections to see if they were still good. Lucía was too tired to take it down to the workshop, back on the first floor in the garage. It was always too much of a hassle. So she worked to replace bad parts and clean main pieces. Everything was generally fine, even after so much use out running in the field, jostling and straining each part, but some things needed fixing. Her trigger screw was barely hanging on by a thread, ready to fall apart at a critical moment. Then the piece of metal holding the gasoline-filled propane tank to the ejection tube was getting rusty and was not looking good.

It took a long time to get everything back in order and her hands were grimy with gasoline, oil, and grease. When she washed them, they held a gray tone that didn't plan on coming off soon. But figuring they were clean enough, she ventured out to grab a midnight snack. Or a 3 AM snack. Lucía went to the vending machines in the recreation room and bought a small bag of Flings and stopped at the cola vending machine. Both Pepsi and Coca-Cola had been restocked, but as she inserted a dollar, she hesitated to pick one.

Maybe it was something about the mellowness to her mood as she stood there, tired and wanting sleep, but she thought back to what happened days ago and went over what was said. She knew she was justified in being harsh and that the Spy deserved it, but then again, he left after that. When she stopped talking to him, he found a stand-in and joined BLU. The Spy obviously wanted to be friends with her, otherwise he wouldn't have put in so much effort to get to know her, but when he was left with such little hope of making amends, he gave up.

She couldn't help but be mad, but now she regretted being so hard on him. He wasn't such a horrible person, he was considerate and he'd made her laugh. Lucía smiled as she recalled the good times they'd had. Then she dropped her smile. Why did he have to make it so hard to forgive him?

Punching the appropriate button, she pulled the Coca-Cola from the drop box along with her change and took a few drinks. The Pyro opened the bag of Flings, ate them, taking drinks of her cola between every few bites, and dumped the remaining bag into a waste basket. She was annoyed to realize she would have to apologize to him before he came back. Even if she felt bad, she still didn't plan on doing it anytime soon. Groaning and pinching the bridge of her nose in irritation, she left the recreation room and went to the locker room where she retrieved her mask and returned to the barracks room, to the darkness where the rest of her teammates slept.

**AN**** - ****Back**** in ****my ****day****, ****Coke ****used ****to ****cost**** 20¢ ****and**** instead ****of ****Cheetos****, ****we ****had ****a ****little ****thing ****called ****Flings****. ****They ****were ****a ****lot ****like ****Baked ****Cheetos****, ****with ****awesome ****flavors ****like ****Swiss ****and ****Ham****. ****Okay****, ****it ****wasn****'****t**** "****back ****in ****my ****day****", ****but ****it****'****s ****still ****true****!**


	11. Chapter 10

**AN – All right... So a temporary lack of Internet caused me to be more motivated to write as I couldn't access a document I needed for school from Google Docs (I seriously love that thing). But for those of you reading this, that just means an extra chapter today! I hope you enjoy it!**

The Pyro flung herself around the corner as the enemy Demoman lobbed a few grenades her way. Reiner said something quietly to her and pointed to the corner of the ramp where she had just come from, but she couldn't hear him clearly. However, John turned back up the ramp and aimed his rocket for the same place. Guessing what he said, she pointed her flamethrower back towards the corner and waited.

And the BLU jumped around the bend.

Instinctively, the Pyro squeezed the trigger and sent the man running, but not before John got a good shot from one of his rockets.

"Rous, rous!" the Medic yelled and they ran down the ramp. Down in the room below, they encountered the BLU Heavy, spinning his minigun, and upon seeing them, unleashed hell. The team scrambled. John and Reiner darted back into the ramp while the Pyro daringly leapt for the hallway to the intelligence room. When the bullets paused, Lucía peered around the corner, only for the Heavy to rev up his gun again and fire. But as the bullets started flying at her, John shot a rocket at the BLU and got his attention.

The Heavy was too far for her to charge him, so she just did the smart thing and headed for the intelligence. Pulling the door open, she ran for the desk across the room and started to sling it over her shoulder when she heard a thump behind her. She dropped the briefcase and wheeled around, seeing the Spy behind her, one hand holding the door handle, the other holding his butterfly knife. He instantly straightened up, eyes wide, and pushed on the door only for it to hold fast against him.

"Ht _hs_ hyu (It _is_ you)!" she said. Then she got mad. So he really _didn't_ care about them anymore!

The Pyro charged him and he darted out of the way, seeking the windows overlooking the interior base below for help. "I honestly assure you zhat I did not plan on you seeing me!" he cried, dashing past the Pyro when she got behind him.

"Hr, rhhllh (Oh, really)?" she snapped.

The Spy jumped over the desk, but Lucía cut him off. They paused for a moment, trying to judge what the other would do. The roar of the Heavy's minigun echoed faintly into the room. In a swift motion, the Spy swapped knife hands and withdrew his revolver. And when he pointed the gun at her, she was furious to have been in this situation in the first place. _Way to trust a Spy..._ she thought seconds before he pulled the trigger.

The bullet whizzed over her head.

Hardly believing it, the Pyro looked over her body to be sure she didn't just hear wrong. He missed! Despite the shock, she advanced on him, gripping her flamethrower tighter.

"Wait, stop! Can we just talk now?" he pleaded. "You didn't even notice what I did!" With a quick point behind her, he tried to show her what he was talking about.

But she would have none of it. Lucía simply backed him into a corner, the pilot light of her flamethrower inches from his chest. When he tossed his weapons to the side, however, and pointed behind her again, she slowly turned her head back, suspicious of his motives. And to her interest, a black box dangled by a wire from the opposite corner of the room, a gaping hole burned through it. A security camera.

Looking back at him, she saw his eyes pleading for her to listen. And so she turned the weapon off to the left and took a step back.

He took a breath and relaxed his posture. Outside, explosions rocked the base and gunfire was very clear now. Pulling up her mask over her mouth, she said, "What do you want, then?"

"Just to be clear, I was not trying to kill you. Zhe door is stuck and my intention was to avoid you. But zhen you saw me and tried to kill me, and it-"

"Glad to know it just _looked_ like you were going to kill me, then..." she replied sharply.

"Well, I guess I really need to say... I'm sorry."

There was a quick moment where he hoped she would say something, but she remained silent. "You got so mad at me, and I should have known how important your information was to you, and I really shouldn't have followed you down zhere in zhe first place..." he continued. "I'm just so used to going and finding zhese zhings out on my own, so I just had to be a... idiot and do it anyways. But I'm really sorry."

Lucía was quiet for a moment. "I-I'm sorry," she blurted out. Lucía wanted to slap herself, but it was too late to take it back. Instead, she voiced what she knew was true. "I'm sorry, too... I shouldn't have been so hard on you about it..." Her voice was slow and her words precise as she spoke. "I can't forgive you, but maybe if you stopped trying to be a BLU, I might."

"Trying? I am BLU."

"And how many people have you killed since you joined?"

"You... don't leave yourself open to backstabs very often!" he retorted, but really just played along.

The Pyro smirked, inwardly smiling at the turn of the conversation. Their words were quickly over, however, when someone tried to open the door. The pair jumped and started gathering everything together. As the Spy backed into a far corner while holding his wrist up, she quickly said, "You can't really stay with these guys, can you?"

"I can't change in the middle of a battle..." he replied and rested his fingers around the rim of the watch face.

She pulled her mask back down and started pulling the briefcase's strap over her shoulder again. As the people outside struggled to get in, the Pyro was relieved to hear John yell through the door, "Stand back, maggot, 'nless you wanna get blown to smithereens!" She obeyed, obviously, and watched as the door blasted into the room, a faint cloaking sound catching her ears just after the explosion. The smoke dispersed and the Pyro trotted out of the room, glad to remain unscathed that time. Lucía was curious as to what the Spy would do for the remainder of the day, but she just hoped it didn't involve any more stupid mistakes.

* * *

"Ugh! God! Look at this bruise, man!" Vince complained as he pointed to a dark purple rectangle across his left shoulder. From the looks of it, it was from an enemy Scout's bat.

"Quit yer whinin', maggot! When I got my arm ripped off in an explosion I didn't complain! Rather, I fought twice as hard to show those damn Nazis what weaklings they are!"

Everyone turned to look at him to judge the truth of his story. John being quite battle-scarred already, it was impossible to tell. "If yer arm got ripped off, how's it ya still got one then?" Wayne asked.

"I stitched it back on soon as I killed everyone," John scoffed, acting like it was nothing.

Reiner made a face, horribly confused, but didn't bother questioning him to avoid any more ridiculous stories.

As the Pyro looked around at all of her teammates, she found one missing. "Hrs rniwrn shrn thr Sph (Has anyone seen the Spy)?"

"Why, I don't reckon I seen him at all today..." Wayne said.

She looked around for a clue from her teammates, but they mostly shook their heads. Instead, she picked up her flamethrower and stepped outside. At her post beside the door, Lucía looked back and forth down the hallway, growing paranoid about who might show up. Inside, the guys quietly muttered amongst themselves, but gradually let go of their fears and were kidding around again.

When one of the showers started up, Lucía was startled by a man suddenly appearing some ways down the hall. She took her stance and slowly turned the weapon towards him. He stopped and held his hands up, his arms back in red again, and gave her a crooked smile, almost masking his worry. "It's me...!" he assured her. "Don't worry, Lucía..." The Spy muttered her name.

Leaning back against the wall behind her, she relaxed some and watched as he limped forward. The Pyro couldn't help but perk up again and start to pick herself up off the wall to help him, but he stopped her. "No no. I'm fine. I'll explain later... For now, I just got into a bad fight before zhe day was done..."

Lucía grudgingly let him go inside, but not before taking note of the big tear in his right pants leg and the darker red staining the area. She gripped her flamethrower tighter to keep from helping him. And as he disappeared inside, receiving relieved welcomes and surprised worry, she couldn't help but smile a little.

* * *

The Spy had waited outside the locker room for the Pyro to finish her business. He said he would explain and that was no lie. Reiner had disappointedly bandaged him up, hoping to have stitched him up instead. He knew better than that, however. So when she strolled out of the locker room, he walked with her to the roof-access stairwell. Lucía was quiet at his side, keeping her hands in the pockets of her cargo pants. He kept his hands to himself, too.

At the top of the stairs, however, Lucía pulled her mask over her hand and raked her glistening black hair out of its hair tie and let it fall down around her shoulders.

The man looked away and scoffed quietly at himself. Shaking his thoughts away, he opened the door for her and let her pass.

"So, how'd you _really_ get hurt?" she asked as soon as the door closed.

The Spy chuckled and shook his head. "Ah... I had to go back to zhe BLU base to change, right? So, when I tried to sneak back over here, zhe BLU Spy naturally caught me on my way out. Suffice to say, he was not happy with my decision to come back."

"You got into a fight?"

"I really had it coming."

"You kinda did."

"Anyways," he continued. "He didn't want me coming over here and telling you all everyzhing I know, so we got at it and I... underestimated how good he was..."

She frowned at this.

"I'll be fine. Maybe enough so zhat I can play out with my real team again?"

She smiled.

It contagiously swept across his face, too. "You can't stay mad at me, can you?"

Fighting the smile now, she said, "This is about you, now, and how stupid you were to try and join up with them, anyways!"

"Well I'm not going to stick around waiting for you to set me on fire zhe first chance you get, especially when I sleep in zhe same room as you."

"Yeah, too bad we can't exactly catch our teammates on fire..." she said, a dark smile crossing her face momentarily.

The Spy chuckled.

"By the way, what the hell kind of idiot did you get for a stand-in?"

The sudden comment startled him and his confidence faltered. "Wh-what?"

"You couldn't get someone who actually knew a thing or two about the way you acted around here?" Lucía put a hand against her forehead and sighed. "Don't you ever try and go back over there, okay? Next time, I won't hesitate to pull the trigger."

A smirk slowly crept back across his face. "Yet you only say zhis so zhat you don't have to go to zhe trouble of getting me back..."

The woman tensed up at the remark and fought to reply. "N-no way. It'd just be annoying to have to get rid of such a bad teammate."

They stared at each other.

"Zhat was a terrible come-back."

"I know..." she dropped her head, laughing silently at how bad it was.

He smiled and waved her over. "Come on, let's go get somezhing to eat."

She gave him a smug look, but joined him as he went back downstairs, allowing him to rest his arm over her shoulder again. They continued talking, catching up on the few things the man had missed that was of interest. And the more they talked, the more the Spy felt guilty about not telling her the real truth. In fact, there were now three different stories for what happened to his leg: the one his teammates knew, the one Lucía knew, and the one that the BLUs and him knew. And frankly, the Spy wouldn't dare think of telling anyone else the truth, mostly because he barely believed what the BLU Spy had done to get him that gash. It was unsettling to think about. In order to make his story believable, the BLU had done what he could and enjoyed it.

But the Spy didn't want to think about that, and so he kept what the man had proposed to himself, hoping to banish the thoughts from his mind and enjoy his time with Lucía.


	12. Chapter 11

**A****/****N****: ****Whoa****! ****An ****update****? ****I ****can****'****t ****believe ****it****! ****But ****YES****! ****It****'****s ****true****! ****I ****got ****some ****foreign ****languages ****all ****up ****in ****hurr****, ****and ****some ****story ****continuin****'. ****That****'****s ****the ****shit ****right ****thurr****. ****But ****yeah****. ****Might ****not ****update ****super ****often ****like ****I ****used ****to**** (****sorta****), ****but ****I****'****m ****gonna ****do ****my ****best ****to ****get ****back ****into ****writing ****again****.**

Lucía had chosen to hold off on her shower tonight. Instead, she headed to the weight room, once again, where she'd taken to lifting dumbbells. Things were relatively peaceful in the base once again. At least as peaceful as it usually was. The Spy had spent plenty of time with her over the past few days, but had also given Lucía her space, too. Things actually seemed better than before, despite a bit of lingering tension over the man's changing allegiance, but she didn't question him about it. Whatever had happened over there, she trusted that he was no longer a part of it. He was trying to set things right with her again and that's what she really cared about. At the moment, she might even call him a friend now. _Might_.

Even so, he and Reiner seemed to be on better terms, too, which was a nice gesture. He _had_ mentioned how he only _really_ disliked him now instead of hating him. It was only a bit of a step up, but it was better than nothing.

As she sat lifting the weight, the Spy entered in the room and briskly walked over to her.

"Buenas noches," he said.

Lucía looked up at him smugly. "You don't have to do that for me."

"Siempre es bueno para practicar (It's always good to practice)."

"I don't know about you, pero estoy muy fluida en español (but I'm very fluent in Spanish)." And she was. She spoke quickly and properly and she wasn't quite sure he caught what she said when he spoke again.

"So zhis is all you're going to do tonight?"

"Yep. Why are you here?"

He glanced back at the door before waving a hand toward it. "They seem to be throwing a party. It's hardly festive, but they're definitely getting drunk like it is."

She gave him a worried look. "Who's drinking?"

"I zhink everyone..."

"Even Vince?"

"_Please_, I doubt he's even old enough to drink."

Lucía rolled her eyes and paused her lifting to shake her head. "As long as they don't start making trouble and can get up in the morning and fight."

"Zhey better hope zhe Adminstrator's kind on zhem."

The Pyro scoffed at this.

Spy looked down at her in surprise, but slowly nodded as he contemplated the thought. After a moment of silence, he said, "Don't you ever get tired of zhat?"

"Well, yeah. It's about 50 pounds."

"I meant bored."

"Sometimes, but I know it's worth it to exercise."

The man shook his head and held out his hand. "I don't zhink so. Come on!"

"Excuse me?"

"Put zhe weight down and come with me."

She complied and ignored his hand, standing up on her own and following him out of the room. The Pyro had no idea what he had in mind, but he stopped suddenly in the hall, causing her to almost run into him.

"Oh dear..." he muttered.

"What?" she said and started to peer around him.

When he noticed her over his shoulder, he moved his arm out to hide her. "Zhat is not a good idea. Tavish and John are coming zhis way."

As the Pyro caught a glance from behind his arm, she saw them staggering down the hallway. John was missing his helmet and Tavish was holding a frying pan.

"_Where_ did he get _that_?" Lucía said worriedly.

"Don't ask me."

"Maybe it's about time I... got some dinner. Yeah, that sounds good."

"Right behind you."

As they turned and started walking away, Tavish appeared suddenly and slung an arm over the Spy's shoulders. "Heeeyy... Where've yoo been, boyo?"

Lucía didn't dare turn around, but the Spy craned his neck away from the Demoman's horrible breath.

"And where do you think you're goin', comrade?" the Soldier said as he set his hand down on top of her head. It wasn't heavy, but it was firm enough to cause her to stop walking. "You gonna get some more beer... comrade?"

Lucía didn't move or speak, hoping he might just suddenly forget about her in his drunken state. "Nah, I wan' more scrumpeh!" Tavish slurred to his teammate.

"I think we need more beer!" John turned to the Demoman, but his hand was still firm on the Pyro's head.

"Scrumpeh!" Tavish let go of the Spy and stepped towards the Soldier.

"Good, _American_ beer!" John's hand lifted away.

The Pyro started walking away slowly, so as not to alert them. Looking back, she saw the Spy doing the same in the opposite direction. As they kept arguing, Tavish suddenly shouted something incoherent and swung his arm around and there was a loud bang. Everyone but the Spy jumped suddenly at the sound, and when Lucía looked back, she gasped as she saw the man collapsed on the ground, Tavish's frying pan hand partly extended towards him. The Demoman looked angrier now, however.

"Lookit what'cha made meh doo!" Tavish shouted.

"Maybe if ya wer'n't so drunk!"

Now frustrated, Lucía maneuvered around the bickering fools and started dragging the Spy away before picking him up and hurrying to the Clinic.

* * *

The Spy slowly awoke to a brightly lit room. His head throbbed as he tried to sit up, but he clearly saw he was in the clinic. He remembered Tavish stumbling down the hallway as he and Lucía were heading off to... Then it was blank. Looking around, his eyes locked onto the wall-mounted clock.

"1:07?" he said aloud to himself. "Great..."

He pulled the blanket off of himself and started to stand up when he heard something fall to the floor. The Spy turned his head toward the bathroom door with a confused expression.

"Reiner?"

He waited a minute, but there was no-

"You're up?" the Medic finally replied.

"Yes... Why are you still up?"

"I vas vaiting for you to get up... I, uh... Had un accident und require some assitance..." The man's tone clearly revealed about how embarrassed he was.

Although the Spy was not happy to have to help with... Whatever it was he needed, he had to help. "You better have a good reason for zhis." He pushed the bathroom door open wider but found the bathroom empty.

And then the door closed behind him.

A hand was suddenly covering his mouth when the BLU Spy finally uncloaked to the guise of the blond man again. The man took his hand away and stepped back. "You need to be quiet."

"What was zhat all about?" the Spy whispered furiously.

"Don't you ever notice the cameras?" the man snapped back.

"Sure, but you could give me a warning..."

"Whenever you decide to warn me about that girl you're so obviously fond of."

The mix of emotions that passed through the Spy in the next instant were only barely hidden, with the only one he showed being confusion. "What girl?"

"Don't play dumb with me," he hissed under his breath. "I've been watching you to be sure you won't tell anyone of our deal. What I get is seeing you trail after that woman. You told me you had no attachments here."

The Spy pressed his lips into a hard line and glared at the blond man before him. "What I do here is my own business. Does it really matter so long as I get zhe job done?"

"I can't have you regretting your decision, changing your mind, or anything that might be bad for this job."

"Well, I can assure you zhat I would not go to such lengths with you just to betray you. If you can't trust me, I can't trust you will hold to your end."

The man was silent for a while, just staring at the Spy judging whether he should still trust him. And while he turned his head away and relaxed his position, physically backing down from the argument, he added, "Fine, but just let the woman go. You don't need her."

The Spy said nothing. The mood had turned sour and he felt unwelcome in his own base. But what could _he_do about it? It was clear this man wanted nothing to interfere with his plans, and as the Spy left, he questioned whether he had made the right decision.


	13. Chapter 12

**AN**** - ****Let ****me ****just ****start ****off ****by ****thanking ****the ****beautiful****, ****the ****wonderful ****axelkairi ****for ****being ****so ****kind ****as ****to ****help ****me ****out ****with ****this ****chapter****. ****Anyways****, ****it ****seems ****like ****I****'****m ****definitely ****getting ****back ****into ****writing ****this****, ****so ****I **_**guess **_**expect ****some ****generally ****frequent ****updates****? ****I ****dunno****, ****but ****I ****think ****I ****can ****finish ****it ****without ****another ****hiatus****. ****I ****hope ****you ****enjoy ****this ****chapter****, ****though****. :)**

Lucía woke up the next morning at the usual time. She tugged her mask around her head so she could actually see through it and looked around the dark room. It was remarkable she could see anything through the lenses, but she managed to pick out each bed around her and see everyone deep in their dreams. The only one who seemed to stir was the Spy, who was back in his own bed. She wondered when he'd come in.

Meandering over to the door, she strained her eyes to make out the time on the clock sitting above it, but to no avail. She opened the door a bit and light from the hallway illuminated the numbers.

_7:43_. _Right_. She glanced back around the room and knew they would not be very effective today.

The P.A. system crackled and a harsh voice spoke. "_Today__will__be__a__cease__-__fire__. __And__all__alcoholic__beverages__have__been__confiscated__until__further__notice_." The Pyro looked up to the ceiling, then back around to her teammates. With a shake of her head, she slipped out of the room and decided to go to the locker room. Figuring she had some time alone for a few hours, she recalled that it was about time to do laundry again. Finding her way to the room, Lucía opened her locker, folded her clothes up and suit and mask into a bag, then zipped it up and left. But as she stepped outside, she bumped into the Spy.

Quickly glancing down the hallway, she slowly backed inside, holding the door open for the man. Secure in the room, she turned to him and asked, "So how are you feeling?"

"Horrible..." he groaned, pressing a hand to his head.

"I can't imagine, being hit with a frying pan and all," she responded sympathetically.

"My head is zhrobbing and I really hate seeing zhese bright lights. Might I borrow your mask to shield my delicate eyes?" A jest tainted his complaints.

Lucía smiled with humor. "I think you're feeling better than you say you are..."

"Where are you heading off to, anyways?" he asked.

The Pyro glanced down at her bag and said, "Laundry."

"Zhat makes sense."

"Have fun with whatever you're doing, then," she said and started to leave again.

"My head really is hurting, zhough. Are you sure I can't borrow your mask?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Why don't you just borrow Robert's sunglasses? You'll look a lot less ridiculous," Lucía suggested.

"And get my head blown off when he finds I have zhem? I zhink not. Besides, yours is darker,_and_I trust you more zhan him..." he replied, a charming smile on his face.

She looked at him suspiciously before crossing her arms and shaking her head and smiling.

He shrugged and held his hands up. "Ah well. It was worth a try."

"Of course. Well, I'm leaving now..." she said, halfway out the door already.

"Adieu!" he called.

Lucía shook her head one last time before heading off to the laundry room, hoping to actually get something done today and not have to meet the rest of her teammates out of suit. Maybe locking the door would help. But once she got to the laundry room, she saw there was only a plain handle. As she unloaded her clothes, she started thinking of excuses to use in case someone came in on her. But what if they saw her cleaning the suit? _If__there__'__s__enough__suds__in__the__soap__, __they__might__not__see__it__..._ she thought to herself. Her thoughts swarmed with ideas on how to get herself out of any trouble and keep the suspicion away from her. Even though she thought all about it, she really just hoped she didn't have to use it.

Not twenty minutes later, when she had moved most of her clothes to the dryer and had finished scrubbing her mask in the sink, did someone come waltzing into the room. Panicking, she threw a towel over her mask and shoved any other evidence into the water. When she looked over at the intruder, she saw the Spy again. Lucía pressed a hand against her chest and sighed heavily, then jumped to move her hand away as she felt it soak through her shirt.

"My apologies. I didn't mean to scare you," the man said.

"Maybe give me a warning next time? You get paranoid doing this, ya know." She started washing it again when she stopped and got a better look at him. "Wait a minute, you just happen to need to do laundry, too?"

"Yes, actually," he said matter-of-factly.

Scrutinizing the clothes he'd brought, she laughed. "Are you kidding? Those aren't even _your_ clothes!"

The Spy chuckled and rested an elbow on the pile. "Fine, you got me. I have nozhing to do yet. But I was hoping I could still borrow your mask. My eyes really do hurt."

Lucía looked at him smugly. "What happened to Robert's sunglasses?"

"I was about to pick zhem up off his side table when he suddenly grabbed my arm! He was still asleep, but I used my better judgement and left zhem alone." The man shrugged as he finished his story.

The Pyro raised an eyebrow at him, but shook her head and withdrew her arms from the water. Drying her hands off on her towel, she turned to him and said, "All right, I'm only going to do this once, but you better be happy with what you get, okay?"

"So you'll let me wear your mask?" He smiled at the idea.

"No."

The bluntness of her reply disheartened the man.

Lucía set down the towel, walked towards the door, and said, "Come with me," as she pulled on her mask.

They left the room, the Spy following the Pyro down a couple flights of stairs and outside the base to a courtyard where a few cars were parked. He shielded his eyes from the sun, but it was hard to not at least notice the camper van. The Spy continued to follow the woman across the hot, brittle ground and to the garage on the other side. He wondered where she was going and only just realized that he'd never bothered to investigate this area of the base before. But Lucía opened a door into the garage where a number of work benches sat with various building tools littering the area.

"So _zhis_ is where zhe work room is." He didn't actually mean to say that out loud, but it was too late.

The Pyro chuckled. She pulled off her mask and said, "I guess that's not really surprising considering how much you hate physical labor."

"I don't _hate_ physical labor, I just don't partake in truly _intensive_ physical labor."

"Uh-huh." Lucía found her way to a wall of boxes stacked on shelves. Sifting through a particular box, she pulled out a sheet of dark tinted plastic, then switched to a different box and pulled out a pair of round-lens safety goggles whose original lenses had previously broken. Then the woman walked over to a work bench and started tearing the goggles apart.

The Spy, rather than sit and watch her work, wandered about the room, examining a number of different tools. "How often do you come down here, anyways?"

Lucía thought for a moment before saying, "I don't know. From time to time, really. I'm not that much of an engineer, but I do know a thing or two about building stuff. I mean, I made my own flamethrower." She smiled proudly at that fact.

"Hmm..." the Spy considered her answer half-heartedly, finding himself curious about a welding torch on the table beside him. Wondering if he could work it, he fiddled with the valve on the tank, picked up the striker, and struck it beside the torch nozzle, a flame loudly spurting out.

The Pyro wheeled around to look at him and was surprised to see him examining the torch in his hand. When he noticed her looking, he said, with the smallest adrenaline-induced smirk on his lips, "You use _zhis_ very often?"

She quickly walked over to him and shut the gas off from the tank and took the torch in her hand, saying, "Don't mess around with this, okay? I don't want you burning yourself." Lucía remained calm, but she had been a bit panicked on the inside. Didn't he know how dangerous that was? Pushing away the side of her that clutched the torch possessively - she hadn't burned anything yet today - she set it down and turned back to the Spy.

"So you really do care?" he replied suggestively.

"Of course I do. I actually like you." The Pyro stepped around him to continue putting the goggles together.

She almost didn't notice his pause. Almost. "_Do_ you now?"

Lucía paused in her steps to turn back to him, a smug smile once again on her face, but turned back towards the table at his suggestive smirk and continued her work. She wasn't sure how she felt about him looking at her like that. It was only about a minute later when she turned back around again, the goggles complete once more. "They're not really your style, but they get the job done, right?"

"I'm guessing you've done zhis before?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at the foreign device and turning it this way and that.

"Yeah, once or twice. Always figured it was good to know how," Lucía replied. She took the goggles in hand and held them up to his eyes, checking to fit. They stood there quietly for a moment. She suddenly noticed how close she was to the man, how her fingers pressed against the sides of his face, holding him steady in her hands, while their chests had to be mere inches apart.

The Pyro pulled the goggles away from his eyes and looked down at them in her hands, taking a step away. Her face felt hot, and her brow furrowed.

"Are zhey all right?" the Spy asked, oblivious.

She nodded. "Yeah, they should be fine now," she said, her voice sounding distant, even to her. Opening her hands, she held the object out to him, but averted her eyes from the man as he took it.

"Oh, yes. Quick question," the man started. "What is zhis device over here?" He pointed a finger while walking toward a tool in particular.

"_This__?_ This is just a handheld circular saw. You've never seen one before?"

"I am afraid not. It looks very... frightening. What does zhe blade look like exactly?"

"Here," Lucía said as she picked it up. But the Spy didn't give the blade a second glance. Instead, his eyes went straight to her and he smiled mischievously. Then she felt ridiculous, and her face felt even hotter than before. "You liar. You _have_ seen one of these."

The man chuckled. "You are correct. But it's good to know I was right."

"What do you mean?" Lucía set the saw back down.

"Zhat you looked incredibly sexy holding zhat device," the Spy said, turning and walking towards the door.

Lucía raised her eyebrows at the remark and, instead of standing there dumbstruck like she was about to do, chose to laugh it off. "I can't believe you...!" she replied a bit playfully. She quickly grabbed her mask and followed him out the door.

"You made it all too easy, ma chérie."

She wished she had some smart response, like she normally did. But the gears of her mind didn't turn, and she simply walked with him in silence.

Once they returned to their floor of the base, they parted ways, going off to their own devices again. The Spy was amused as to how that went, simply glad he'd managed to get Lucía all to himself again. In fact, his eyes hadn't bothered him in the slightest the whole time. He hadn't even planned on her doing any of that for him. But he was happy anyways. If anything, it seemed he had something from her to cherish now.

* * *

Lucía entered the lunch room and set her sights on the buffet table. She hadn't felt like pulling on her mask, so she just meandered into the dining room, hoping to eat something without any trouble. A few company employees had snuck down here to eat, though. It was always an unusual sight, but the Pyro mentally sighed, relieved that she didn't stand out so much. Examining the usual spread on the table, she decided on something relatively simple. The woman walked over and got a salad bowl, grabbed a bread roll, and sat down at an empty table to eat.

Times like this were extremely rare for the Pyro. She was always worrying too much to just come in here and eat out of her disguise. It was always so hard to just let go and relax. Lucía couldn't wait to rotate out of here soon.

A couple of the workers had gathered together at one of the tables and started talking about the mercenaries. Lucía only took notice when she heard their roles being dropped.

"... Soldier and the Demolitions man were wandering drunk around the base last night and everyone else had managed to flip everything in their recreational room upside down. God knows why, but I had to clean the whole mess up." It was an older man, clearly speaking out of annoyance.

"Right, you were working maintenance last night," the other man said. "Is it true all their beer was confiscated?"

"The _Administrator_ announced it. You know she's serious."

"Jeez."

"'Ch'yeah. She needs to give them more to do other than defending this base. One of these days, they're all gonna be drunk and those BLUs are gonna charge over here and kill us all."

"I'll be damned if th-"

"Hey, did I see you carry the Spy to the Clinic last night?" The Pyro was cut off from her eavesdropping by a man setting down his plate and drink at her table. When she looked up at him, she immediately groaned upon seeing that blonde-haired guy again. Taken aback, he said, "Whoa. Wait, listen, I'm sorry about last time. I just... thought you were really beautiful and I guess you don't take too well to guys flirting with you."

Lucía glared up at him and was about to say something until he sat down beside her.

"But considering every time I see you you're by yourself, you look like you could just use some company." His voice turned sympathetic as he spoke and it struck a different nerve in the Pyro. Her fist, which had clenched itself under the table, slowly relaxed. But she did not make any attempts at small talk.

However, he did. "You... didn't answer my question..." the man asked reluctantly.

"What question?"

"Did you really carry the Spy to the Clinic?" he repeated.

Lucía looked over at him suspiciously. "How would you know?"

"I just happened to be down there at the time and it looked like you."

"Well," she started and repeated the man. "I just happened to see him get knocked unconscious by those two wandering drunks last night."

"Oh, so it _was_ you. That was really nice of you to do that, then," he said. "I wouldn't know what to do in that situation. I mean, that guy just seems really creepy to me."

"I wouldn't know."

She wasn't really happy to talk with him, and it finally seemed to sink in because he didn't say anything else. But the Pyro could not take her mind off the situation at hand after that. Perhaps having a company employee as a... _friend__..._ would be beneficial. If not for new information on what's going on (which she didn't think she'd be too interested in), then in disguising herself further from her teammates, setting her identities even farther apart. It was hard to see any other benefits, though. She was still tempted to just set him on fire and be left alone.

_Finished__, __finally_, were her thoughts when she shoved the last bit of her bread roll into her mouth. She quickly stood up, put her dishes away, and left the room, leaving her companion to continue eating alone. It wasn't her ideal way to spend her evening, but maybe the man had a point to what he said. Not that she trusted him anyways.


	14. Chapter 13

Lucía couldn't figure out why, but even after being out in the field most of the day, she still felt the itch to burn something. It was satisfying to burn her enemies, but she didn't always have the chance to relish it. Sitting at a table in the workshop, she sat working on her flamethrower again. The weapon sprawled across the table, part of it dismantled, the gas tank separated from the rest of it and empty of all contents. But Lucía wasn't even looking at it. She had her mask laying on the table before her and sat leaning her head into her arms, holding her lighter in her hands and flicking the switch on and off.

She was exhausted. Both physically and mentally. At at this point, she really didn't feel like doing anything.

And so she sat there, eyes closed in contemplation. The Pyro had half a mind to head out and find something to burn when she heard the door opening behind her. Her heart stopped and she panicked. She grabbed a tarp off the floor by the workbench and ripped it up over the device.

"Hey," a man said in a surprised tone. "I didn't expect to see _you_ down here. Is this where you work?"

Lucía recognized the voice as the blonde man's and turned around to see him walking over to her. This was bad. Really bad. She probably looked a bit different to him, especially wearing her boyish clothes, but he didn't seem to care about it. He was, however, holding a plate covered with tin foil. "I, uh, don't _really_ work down here," she said nervously.

"Looks like you're doing some kind of work, then," he said. "What is it?"

"Oh, nothing much, really," she replied. Her hands fought to play with her lighter again. "What- What's in your hands, anyways?"

"Oh! This!" The man suddenly remembered. "They're cookies!" He pulled back the foil to reveal, as he said, cookies. "I usually have a friend who's down here and I like to visit him from time to time."

"That wouldn't be...?"

The man considered her suggestive tone. "Who? The Engineer?"

Lucía nodded.

The man laughed. "No way! Like anyone could be friends with the mercenaries!"

The Pyro furrowed her brows.

He noticed her confusion. "Er, I mean. The Administrator. We're all separated so it just goes without saying..."

"Oh, that makes sense." She looked down, thinking about it.

"You can have one, you know."

When she looked back up, she realized the tin foil was still pulled back, and he was extending the plate out towards her now. She hesitated before reaching over and plucking it off the plate.

The man started backing away towards the door while saying, "I'll let you work on... Whatever that thing is. Oh!" He stopped. "What should I call you? If that's okay, of course."

"What should you...?" The only things she could think of were Pyro and Lucía. She started wracking her brain for a name. Any name. "Amelia." _Amelia__?_ she immediately thought.

"That's a beautiful name. Surely fit for you." He tried to flirt again, but she remained straight-faced. He cleared his throat and said, "You can call me Blake."

She nodded.

When the man continued to the door, he looked back as he placed a hand on the door handle and mentioned, "You might want to get a different mask if you're going to be welding something." And then he left.

Lucía's hand loosened its grip on her cookie and she nearly dropped it like her heart dropped into her stomach. She didn't want to look back, but when she checked the work bench, she saw her mask lying out, plain as day.

"O-oh dios..." she said and just wanted to kill herself. She might as well. Why did things have to be so hard for her?

She couldn't bring herself to eat the cookie. Instead, she simply threw it away. She pulled her mask on to continue working, but she just couldn't bring herself to do anything. So she gathered her things together, piecing the weapon back together again with shaking hands and opted to drag it back over into the base. She had her mask on, but it felt like everyone was staring at her, like everyone knew who she was. Her mind just wouldn't let it go. And the more she worried, the more she needed to burn something.

* * *

The darkness of the night was falling around her, but she didn't care. Not even when the sun was so low in the sky. Instead, the Pyro had amassed a good pile of papers, cardboard boxes, and a number of other things she could carry up here. She really missed having a fireplace, though. But perhaps a miniature bonfire was better than nothing. And so she pulled out her lighter and picked up a piece of paper. There were a number of things written on it, but the words didn't interest her. The Pyro lit the paper in her hand and watched it burn. It felt warm against her skin, and she was so used to burning things that the heat barely bothered her anymore.

As the flames got close to her hand, she dropped the page on the concrete and plucked up another one. And as she burned that, she pulled aside some more papers and laid the burning one down to disintegrate into the the pile. They slowly caught and started filling the air with their warmth, flames wavering between the paper.

Her body slowly began to relax as she sat there watching the flames. She felt relieved.

It took a short time for the pile to whither away in the flames, and as they were close to dying, Lucía took the papers the set aside and started burning them individually in her hands again.

The door opened behind her and she jumped. One of the papers fell loose from her hand and slid between her fingers, the flames snapping against her hand as it passed beneath it.

"OW!" she yelped and started waving her hand. When she looked back, she saw the Spy standing there surprised.

He quickly walked to her side while saying, "Forgive me. Did I surprise you?"

Lucía nodded. "Yeah, but I'm okay."

"Come, chérie, burns are never okay," he said, while holding out a hand to help her up.

"I'm fine," she insisted with a small smile. "I mean it."

"I don't believe you for a second," the Spy replied. Then he swept the woman up into his arms and started carrying her to the door.

"Whoa!" She was surprised at first, then nervous. "W-wait! What if someone sees us?"

"We should probably hurry to zhe Clinic, zhen, no?" he said, and when they passed through the door at the bottom of the stairs, he hastily walked through the halls, careful as to what corners he passed on the way. He probably could have cloaked them both, but he found this much more fun.

When they arrived at the Clinic, he was happy to find that it was void of anyone else. So he laid her down on the closest bed and said, "Wait here for a moment."

And so she did. Like she would be able to get away anyways. But he was back in a moment with a green plant stem in his hand. "Aloe?"

He nodded and pulled the two sides of it apart, revealing the green goop within.

"You have one here?" she asked.

"Have one, found one..." he juggled his answer. The Spy took her hand in his and laid the opened plant leaf down against the burned area and spread it around.

"You probably would," she said quietly.

"Definitely comes in handy in my line of work."

Lucía started wondering what it might've been like on the other end of the flamethrower, without the suit to protect her. As she looked up at him, focused on helping her at the moment, she felt bad for him.

"Now, does zhis return zhe favor of you bringing me here the ozher night?" he looked up at her with a smile.

"So _that__'__s_ why you did that..." Lucía smiled back at him.

"I originally went up zhere to find out where you were. Wayne had called everyone togezher for a meeting," he said and stood up to lay the aloe leaf on Reiner's desk.

"Oh..." That was probably a bad thing to miss. "What was it about?"

"Discussed some plans of attack he'd been thinking of, showed some plans he'd been looking into with modifying some of our weapons, too," he explained.

She moaned disappointedly. That was _definitely_ a bad thing to miss.

"You can probably just find Wayne and figure out what you missed," the Spy suggested.

"Yeah," she nodded. "But, you know, I kinda need my mask."

"I can fetch zhat for you easy. But you're all right now, yes?"

Lucía chuckled. "Yes, thank you."

When he left the room to get her mask, the Pyro lifted her hand to examine the aloe on it. She often remembered having an aloe plant at home for whenever things like this happened. It always helped. And by now, the pain was completely gone. Lucía stood up and walked into the bathroom to wash her hand off. When she looked in the mirror, she saw how messy her hair looked. What was once a sloppy bun was made worse by the friction of her mask over her head. After she washed her hand, she let it down and combed her fingers through the tangled black strands until it fell generally neatly over her shoulders again. Lucía stared at it for a moment before pulling it back up again into the same bun and stepping outside.

The Spy was waiting for her, the mask flopping over his gloved hands. "Thank you," she said as she took it.

"Don't mention it," he replied. After the Pyro fit her mask over her head again, she opened the door and walked out into the hall, turning in the direction of where she assumed the Engineer would be. The Spy turned in the opposite direction, lighting a cigarette in his mouth, and they parted ways for the night.


End file.
